Spirit of Fire: To save humanity
by Left hand turn signal
Summary: A crossover, Spirit of Fire and John Sheppard from mass effect. The spirit has escaped the shield world, but now they have no idea where they are, or where to go, until they come into contact with other humans who have never heard of the covenant or UNSC
1. Escape and Dscovery

_Setting:_

_Mass Effect: just after the events on Feros (No other planets complete)_

_Default Sheppard, male, earthborn, war hero_

_Halo: after the events of Halo Wars on board the _Spirit of Fire

_Both universes are at least a little AU_

_I don't own any characters used, and everything is property of bioware and bungie and whoever else._

Captain Cutter had just finished shutting Professor Ander's cryotube when Serina's voice came over the speakers, and her holographic body appeared on a pedestal near the door. "What is it Serina?"

A ghostly blue figure on a pedestal materialized near the captain, it was the image of a woman in a simple white shirt and black pants.

"Something has happened near the shield world, actually in the exact center, where our FTL detonated in the sun," Serina put a hand to her head in a gesture meant to reassure human listeners. The gesture also signified that the AI was trying to process a lot of information at once.

"Something is there, the radiation I am picking up seems to be consistent with a slipspace entry caused by a ship."

Cutter looked thoughtful for a moment, "As far as we know, there aren't many people that know we are out here correct?"

"There might have been someone on Arcadia that saw us jump, but they would have no way of knowing where we ended up." Serina paused for a moment, "I know what you're thinking, and that's crazy, we don't know a thing about this slipspace phenomenon, if it leads anywhere in the first place, which is unlikely, it could lead right into a star, or some position even outside the galaxy."

Cutter's brow furrowed as if deep in thought, "True, but if the war keeps going like it is, we aren't going to see a rescue party any time soon, especially if they have to search for us." Cutter started to walk out of the cryo bay, "besides, the cryo pods can only keep us alive for a decade at the most, and it's unlikely that anyone will be there to unthaw us once we get to that point."

"But, sir…" Serina looked like she might continue to argue the point.

"No Serina, a small chance is better than none, if that is some sort of slipspace portal like you think, we have to take the chance." Cutter looked determined as he walked out onto the bridge.

"This is beyond insane sir," A smile stole across the AI's face. "Should I begin waking the crew?"

"No, if I'm wrong I think they would be happier dying in their sleep rather than waiting around helplessly."

"Aye sir, course plotted, approaching our doom in 5 seconds."

Cutter closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, and hoped against hope that they would come through this in a better situation than before. Serina's voice came over the speakers again, "3… 2… 1… contact!"

***

Commander Sheppard felt a great deal of relief as the _Normandy_ lifted off from the docking station on Feros. After fighting through hordes of Geth and then the sickening creatures the Thorian had created, he was tired, but happy, He had managed to knock out all of the colonists remaining in Zhu's Hope. He was less happy about the report he was preparing to send to the citadel council.

Sheppard leaned back and sighed, "close minded aliens."

"Talking to yourself again sir?" asked Kaiden Alenko from the doorway.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking lieutenant?" Sheppard replied with just a hint of a smile.

"Sir! You left the door open," Kaiden replied immediately after coming to attention, just the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"At ease lieut-" Sheppard was cut off as an explosion rocked the ship just as it started to exit the atmosphere.

"Joker, what the hell was that?" Sheppard keyed his com unit.

"Geth ships commander, two of them, a cruiser and a frigate," Joker's voice was strained as he devoted most of his effort to piloting the ship out of danger.

"Full speed away, get us away from the planet, try and outrun them," Sheppard ordered the pilot.

"Aye sir! Full speed away," Joker replied.

During this time Sheppard and Alenko arrived at the CIC having taken emergency ladders to bypass the slower lift. "Joker report!"

"That first hit was lucky sir, it damaged our engines and our stealth systems, and we're barely keeping ahead of the cruiser. That frigate could catch us, but they seem happy to just lob torpedoes at us from outside our own weapons range. Our guardian defenses will be overwhelmed soon." Joker replied in an unusually somber tone.

"What if we turned to attack, launched our own torpedoes?" Kaiden spoke up.

"The only reason we're still alive is that I'm flying away and dodging like crazy, otherwise the guardian lasers would overheat in a heartbeat and we'd all be fried," a little bit of the cocky attitude Joker normally displayed began to show itself again.

"Send a distress call Kaiden, all channels." Sheppard grimaced, even if it got out, it was unlikely any ship would pick up the call before they were destroyed by the Geth.

"Aye sir!" Alenko turned to the console next to him, "Mayday, Mayday this is the SSV Normandy requesting immediate assistance, the Geth are attacking, main drive damaged, we need immediate assistance."

"Commander, major gravitational readings, and an energy signature I've never seen before," Joker's voice cam in over the com at the CIC.

"From the Geth?" Navigator Pressley asked, anxiousness apparent in his voice.

"No sir! Right in front of us," Joker's voice sounded more excited than usual.

"Fly as close as you think safe Joker," Sheppard began to feel hope return to the situation. "Let's see if we can't lose that cruiser."

The _Normandy_ began to shudder as it passed close to the anomaly, the gravitational effects playing havoc with their inertial compensators. Then suddenly the vibration stopped. "We're through" joker practically shouted.

"What the hell is that!" A tech in the crew pit to the right side of the CIC exclaimed.

"What is it Ensign?" Sheppard demanded quickly, walking over to the tech's monitor.

"Something just appeared behind us, it looks like it came _out_ of whatever we just passed. But it's big, very big." The startled junior officer was nervous as evidenced by the way all her words came out in a jumble.

"What about the Geth?" Sheppard looked at the screen over the ensign's shoulder.

The ensign, even more nervous with her commanding officer standing over her should fumbled with the controls for a while before enlarging an image of whatever was behind them, showing a massive ship, easily the size of the largest dreadnaughts employed by the systems alliance. In the screen he saw a puff of gas, and the Geth cruiser exploded against the side of the newcomer's hull, but surprisingly very little of the dreadnaught's hull seemed damaged by the detonation of the Geth ship.

"The frigate is still out there, Joker, what happened to the other Geth ship?" Sheppard demanded.

Joker took a moment to respond, "Torpedoes already away captain… damn, he went FTL back to the relay."

"It's okay Joker, I don't think there is much more here the Geth would want, and besides, the navy should be here in a couple days." The Commander walked forward into the pilot's position of the _Normandy_. He noticed that the frigate was now pointed back towards the massive dreadnaught hanging in space.

"It looks like someone was listening to my prayer after all." Sheppard turned around to see Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams walking up to the pilot's chairs, a smug look on her face. "And better yet, that ship definitely looks human."

"Where did you get to that conclusion Williams?" Sheppard said, looking slightly irritated.

"I just looked at the writing on the wall sir." The marine pointed out the window.

On the side of the ship in bold letters was a ship designation in English, it read:

**UNSC CFV-88**

**SPIRIT OF FIRE**


	2. First Meetings

Captain Cutter lay sprawled out on the floor of the bridge, and slowly got up from where he was thrown as the _Spirit of Fire_ was hit as they exited the slipspace disturbance. "What the hell was that?" Cutter coughed out, tasting blood and feeling a sharp pain in his chest that felt suspiciously like a cracked rib.

"We appear to have exited the slipspace rupture, sir, and a ship collided with us as soon as we came out." Serina replied matter-of-factly.

"Covenant?" asked the captain.

"Uh, no sir, it was unlike anything we've seen before, including that dyson sphere we just destroyed."

"That might be a problem, could have been the only friendly alien race we'll ever see, and we just crashed right into them." Cutter shook his head and sighed. "Are we near any planets?"

"Yes sir, we're actually very close to what looks like a population center, scanning… population, wait, that can't be right." Serina's avatar looked confused.

"What is it Serina?" His concern leaked into his voice as he spoke.

"It appears to be only about fifty, sir" Serina said after a few seconds.

"Does it look like they were glassed?" Cutter replied.

"No, the buildings all just look very old, like ancient ruins. I'm only detecting life near a small settlement that looks, well, newer than the rest, there are only about fifty infrared signatures, I couldn't tell if there are any more in the lower levels. If I had to guess, this looks like an archeological dig site." Serina suddenly looked startled. "Captain, you had better take a look at this."

Cutter walked over to the video display in the corner of his bridge. "A ship Serina?"

"Aye sir, markings are in English, how odd, I've never seen a ship like that before." Serina looked genuinely puzzled.

"Could it be a separatist colony?" Cutter stared at the ship in the view screen, making out the words, SSV Normandy. "Normandy? It appears to be named after the battle of Normandy of Earth history."

"I can't contact them, our transmitter was destroyed in the fight with that covenant destroyer in the shield world."

Cutter turned back to the holographic pedestal on which Serina stood. "That's unfortunate, and we might have just run into friends of theirs, start waking up the crew, start with red team, we'll most likely need them."

"Commander, we have boarders!" Serina suddenly yelled.

"Show me." A holo table lit up near the captain showing the spirit of fire, with one red patch where the other human ship had taken up position, and apparently dropped a small team, which he saw on one of the overhead monitors, apparently only about four soldiers had landed, they appeared heavily armed but did not carry their weapons out in their hands. "They must think we're a derelict." What about the other group?"

"That's a bit more interesting. They definitely aren't human, and they are definitely hostile, they seem to be coming from where that ship impacted us." Another screen started up, it showed sinuous bipedal creatures with inward bent legs and extended necks with single glowing eyes at the end.

"Tell red team to get to where these aliens are, and repel boarders. As far as those humans go, see if you can make contact with them if they get inside, place a priority on waking up the ODSTs after the Spartans, We can't jump away, we might have to defend this ship." The captain sat down in his chair. "Seal as many doors as you can, I don't want people running around my ship without my permission."

***

Commander Sheppard touched down on the deck of the massive dreadnaught," _no, carrier", _he thought. The markings on the side of the ship were clearly visible under his boots. "_If they follow the same naming conventions as we do, and seeing as how no one's seen a ship like this before that isn't a given anymore."_

"Look at that blast damage," **Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, the Quarian, interrupted his reverie. "It looks almost like close range guardian laser damage, definitely not caused by the Geth ship." The alien paused a moment to examine the battle scaring around them. "It looks like whoever they were fighting was targeting those turrets," Tali raised her hand to point at what were obviously once turrets, before something had melted through them.**

**"If those are the size of their guardian lasers, let's hope we don't run into whoever shot at this ship," Ashley remarked. The tough marine and lieutenant Alenko made up the rest of the exploratory squad that Sheppard had led to the derelict.**

"Enough gawking, let's see if we can find a way into this thing." Sheppard started walking, letting the rest of his team fall in behind.

"Over here sir," Kaiden's voice came over the radio. "It looks like an airlock at least."

The lieutenant stood near a doorway on the side of the ship, it was a large hatch, nearly ten feet across in a square, yellow and black stripes ringed the doorway.

"This is getting weirder and weirder, this ship is completely unknown to humanity as we know it, and yet it has more recognizably human markings than the _Normandy_." Sheppard shook his head as he inspected the hatch.

"The _Normandy_ is a joint project between human's and turians, if this is a solely human ship that would make sense," Tali interjected helpfully.

"Can you open the hatch, or are you just going to talk all day long?" Williams said, hands on her hips, an annoyed expression on her face.

Tali turned to the door, and managing to sound indignant through her translator, "Yes, just a moment, it shouldn't take long." The young quarian's omnitool began to glow orange as she attempted to connect to the systems controlling the hatch. "That's odd… the computer system here is completely different than the one on the Normandy, and it seems unusually secure. This might t-" she jumped back suddenly as the airlock opened. "I didn't expect that to work so quickly."

"Well, we have access, let's go inside, see why this thing is here, and if anyone is left inside." Sheppard stepped inside the hatch and was vaguely surprised to find artificial gravity was present and active.

The team entered the airlock and waited for it to cycle before stepping inside, their weapons held at the ready, not seeing anything but empty corridors the team began walking down the large middle one, which appeared to have some sort of freight conveyance system running down the length of it.

"All the lights are off, looks like nobody's home after all" Ashley murmured.

"Or nobody made it through whatever this ship came out of," Kaiden replied somberly.

"Yeah, there's a cheery thought," Ashley shivered a little, it had nothing to do with the cold interior of the ship.

"Quit spooking yourself marines, we've got a mystery to solve here," Sheppard tried pressing a few controls on one of the many doors lining the corridor, to no success.

"That sounded just like the cheesy books my little sister used to read when we were kids, sir" Ashley smiled and shook off the nervous feeling the ship gave her.

"Sheppard, over here!" Tali sounded a little panicked and had her shotgun trained inside a doorway that appeared to have been blown open, recently too.

The team hurried over to where the Quarian stood, and all of them drew their weapons and began looking around, the reason was apparent. Geth bodies laid all over what looked like a break room, complete with vending machines, several Geth troopers were strewn about the entrance, gun wounds that looked like they came from similar weapons to the one's Sheppard's team carried riddled the machine corpses.

However, in the center of the room lay the corpse of a titanic Geth destroyer, it's arm appear to have been ripped from its socket, and a massive hole seemed to have been blasted through its chest.

"Its gun is missing," Kaiden stated bluntly, "so are two of the trooper's weapons."

"Look sir, I recognize these!" Ashley held up a small round cylinder, open at one end, and closed at the other. "It's a shell casing, like from old Earth rifles before the discovery of the Prothean ruins on mars, my dad was a collector."

"I'd bet that whatever took down these Geth picked up their guns, old weapons like that do almost nothing to a shielded opponent." Kaiden walked over to the corpse of the Destroyer. "I don't know how they brought this guy down though, heavy weapons maybe? I don't see any other bodies, or blood for that matter, you'd think the Geth would have killed someone if they were using such primitive weapons."

"That means we aren't alone here, and it's not just the Geth we have to worry about." Sheppard looked around the area holding his pistol at the ready.

An electronic sizzling sound came from one of the walls behind the small squad. As they wheeled, they saw a small pedestal swirl with holographic light. Until a small image of a woman appeared above the platform. "You're definitely right about that."


	3. Explanations, and a Request

"What's the situation Serina," Cutter asked the question without turning from the monitor's displaying Spartan Red team's fight against the invading aliens. After dispatching a few in close combat and picking up their weapons, they had quickly cleared all but one pocket of resistance. What worried the captain most, however was that the alien's shields were nearly impervious to standard UNSC issue weapons, the same could not be said of the Spartan's shields which had quickly failed after just a few hits.

"I've done an analysis captain, the alien weapons appear to be essentially gauss rifles. Only instead of the large projectiles fired by the warthogs, or say our main gun, they appear to fire particles smaller than a grain of sand. I don't think they would be as effective as our bullets against flesh, at least in terms of damage, but they would easily pass through any armor we could put in their way, short of a Scorpion's armor."

"And the crew?" Cutter asked as he turned away from the battle displaying on the monitors, now a foregone conclusion, the Spartans were just mopping up now.

"Lima Squad of the ODSTs is awake, as well as all the cryogenics techs. Also, captain I've sealed our other visitors in a break room along the fifth cargo elevator." Serina smiled, "Red team and Lima squad are on their way now, I'm about to attempt conversation captain would you like to listen in?"

"Why can't I start the introductions?" Cutter looked at the AI.

"You could order me to let you do it sir, but I am better qualified than you at first contact procedures."

Serina's superior and self satisfied smile made the captain smirk a little, "Very well, but I'll be going down there myself to greet our guests personally, after you talk to them for a while of course." The captain stood up and walked out of the bridge into a waiting elevator.

***

All four members of the squad quickly turned and pointed their guns at the small holographic woman standing before them, looking at them with a smile on her face.

"It looks like some sort of VI, it's a much better programmed hologram than I've ever seen though," Kaiden started to lower his gun as did the rest of the squad, realizing how foolish such an action would be against a hologram.

"You talk about me as if I'm not even here," The strange blue hologram crossed its arms and looked directly at Kaiden.

"That's… not a VI" Tali said apprehensively, looking around as if she was expecting a sudden attack.

"An AI, but those have been outlawed by the Citadel council since before us humans even found our mass relay." Ashley said, now tense and expecting an attack as much as Tali was.

"Citadel council? Mass relay? What are you talking about?" The AI looked curious as it turned it's 'gaze' over to Tali. "Wait a minute, you aren't human. How long have we been lost? I can't believe we actually found a friendly alien race, after all these years… " Serina paused a minute due to the confused expressions on the other's faces. "Too many questions? Fine, let's start with one. What year is it? Standard Earth biblical calendar."

"It's 2183, of course" Commander Sheppard had a nearly identical look of confusion as the AI on his face.

"Impossible, the Shaw-Fujikawa translight engine was only developed in 2291, and contact with an alien race only happened in 2525 with the glassing of Harvest colony, and the death of nearly two million civilians still on the planet, beginning the covenant war and the death of nearly a billion soldiers and civilians to this date." Serina began to lose some of her cocky attitude and started to look worried. "What is going on here?"

"A billion people dead at the hands of aliens?" Ashley shook her head, "but that's impossible, humanity discovered Prothean relics in 2148, and achieved interstellar flight, and in 2157 the first contact war with the Turians began and ended. Ever since we've been part of the Citadel alliance."

Sheppard shook his head, the story the AI just told him had piqued his interest enough to distract him. He noticed outside the break room a pair of blast doors had closed. "That AI is a good liar, she kept us distracted long enough for the doors to close."

Sure enough, as the squad turned around, they saw a heavy blast door blocking the only exit, it hadn't closed all the way, the warped track from where the Geth had blown their way in kept it a few inches off the floor.

"Probably to trap us here to keep us from telling the citadel about it." Kaiden said as he tried to open the door.

"I'm telling the truth here, I have no idea what happened after we passed through the slipspace portal, but what I've told you is true!" Serina started to look angry.

"Yeah, sure, that's why you locked us in here, leaving us to starve. Did you kill the crew of this ship too? Or are you going to spill some more BS about aliens trying to kill humanity?" Ashley was visibly pissed off.

"I didn't kill my crew! I'm not rampant!" Serina's hologram started to turn slightly purple with anger.

"Oh yeah? Then where are they?" Ashley turned sarcastic, obviously not believing a thing the AI said.

Serina's anger appeared to diminish, she turned visibly much calmer and a familiar smirk went across her features, "Why three of them are outside now. Why don't you come in Red team? I'm afraid the door is stuck, you'll have to open it yourself."

The careful click of a pair of metallic boots hitting metal sounded through the break room before stopping in front of the door. The squad could clearly see two olive drab boots underneath the door, followed quickly by a pair of gauntlets gripping the underside of the door.

"No way, even Wrex couldn't lift that door by himself," Kaiden's comment was barely heard over the squealing of metal on metal as the door rose inch by inch, revealing three huge armored figures.

"Hello there," The first figure said, the larger Geth pulse rifle from a destroyer slung across its back. The other two were clearly visible, pointing more normal pulse rifles at the four man squad inside, in counter to the lancer assault rifles raised in their direction.

The voice that came from the first figure was decidedly feminine, which put Sheppard off a bit, for a soldier that big he expected it to be male, a bit chauvinistic, but that was what he thought. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"I should ask you the same question, you are the one trespassing on UNSC property," The armored behemoth cocked its head to one side as if listening to something, then a deep chuckle came from the featureless gold visored helmet, all the more disconcerting because it was a female voice. "Okay, fine, I'll play the diplomat."

The four squadmates exchanged glances with each other. Wondering what was said in that in helmet transmission.

"I'm UNSC Spartan Alice-130, super soldier, and you are?" The super soldier extended a hand to Sheppard.

Sheppard, still obviously distrustful of the newcomers and the AI that had ambushed them, took the offered hand and shook it. "Commander Sheppard, systems alliance navy, and member of the citadel special tactics and reconnaissance group. This is my squad, Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams, and **Tali'Zorah nar Rayya a Quarian travelling with us on our mission."**

**The massive soldier nodded, "This is Douglas-042, and Jerome-092 leader of Spartan red team. You've already met the ship board AI Serina. Captain Cutter will be here momentarily, until he works something out, you aren't our prisoners, but we aren't just going to let you leave either."**

**John Sheppard smirked, "I figured as much, from the frosty reception."**

**Jerome-092 lowered his gun and walked forward, "After dealing with the things we have, that reception was positively welcoming."**

**"With the big armor you've got, I'll bet you've run into some pretty nasty things, not that I buy the 'we're from the future' crap' by the way… what's with the name and number, some sort of call sign?"**

**"No we're super soldiers, and that's about all any non-UNSC personnel is cleared to know." Jerome's tone made it clear that was all Sheppard was going to get out of the Spartans.**

**"Lower your weapons people, I don't think we're going to be able to fight our way out of a ship full of people, especially after what they did to those Geth." Sheppard did as he ordered, and holstered his pistol.**

**"Actually, that was just us three that killed all those Geth," Douglas cut in, his voice was much deeper than the other two Spartans and had a sound as if he was hoarse from coughing.**

**At that time, Captain Cutter arrived outside escorted by Lima squad. The three Spartans came to attention to let the man through. He appeared old. He had a face full of wrinkles and grey hair, yet the three super soldiers seemed to afford him a great deal of respect. The ODSTs around him were clad in similar armor to the Spartans except it was colored black, and had a different helmet design. On each ODST's shoulder was a patch showing a meteor streaking through the sky with the words above it 'WE GO FEET FIRST'**

**"I assume you are Captain Cutter?" with a nod from the captain, Sheppard continued talking. "I am commander Sheppard systems alliance navy."**

**"I'm sorry we couldn't give you a proper greeting commander. Our situation is dire, and we can't afford to take chances." Cutter shook his head, as if to clear some bad memories. "Serina has briefed me on what you said, and our star position relative to where we were. I'm actually inclined to believe that here, wherever this is, is vastly different from where we came. The world we are nearby, I don't know what you call it, but star charts match up. That world is occupying a position that should be Harvest, the seventeenth human colony to be settled, and the first to fall to the covenant."**

**"According to our archeologists, that world has been there, covered with a metropolis for nearly 50,000 years of our time," Sheppard replied, "That makes absolutely no sense."**

**"Exactly, our histories are extremely different; I've noticed that in your statements. While I don't pretend to understand the vagaries of slipspace, I think the anomaly we passed through might have something to do with it, or at least, that's what Serina tells me." Cutter walked over to Serina's holopad stood in the small room. "Serina, show the last few minutes of our escape from the Shield world."**

"Captain, Spirit of Fire operations are considered classified, eyes only by the UNSC," Serina turned to the captain, "Are you sure these people can be trusted?"

"No offence to you Commander Sheppard, but no, I only trust you about as much as I trust a politician," the joke brought a couple weak smiles to the room. "Like it or not though, we are dependent on you and the system alliance you represent. As you will see shortly, we had to sacrifice our slipspace generator in order to stop the covenant from wiping us out completely." He turned to the pedestal, and input a code into a keypad build into the holographic projection device. "Start at the apex battle"

A two dimensional display along the wall lit up, showing what was obviously battlefield footage from a soldier. The unnamed soldier carried some sort of assault rifle in his hands; he was standing to the side of a massive wheeled platform, with some sort of huge block sitting on top of it, whatever it was, it had been burnt and scorched but was undamaged. The man standing on top of the platform looking over the device said something mostly unintelligible. The view shifted as the marine ran over to what looked like a door. There was a small globe in front of the door, the marine held his hand over the globe for a moment, and to the amazement of the four from the Normandy, the globe began spinning, and five characters started glowing, spaced roughly for a human hand.

The marine pressed the five characters, and machinery could be heard starting up behind the door. "It's active!" the marine yelled back over his shoulder. The screen jerked suddenly as the marine was roughly lifted off the ground; a thick armored finger could be seen at the edge of the screen, as could a blade of white energy sticking out of the marine's chest.

"Keelah…" the quarian's whispered exclamation barely distracted the rest from the screen.

A massive alien now stood looking at the doorway, barely visible at the lower edge of the screen, now sideways as the dead marine lay in a heap on the ground, a light flashed KIA in the upper right hand corner of the screen. The alien spun around quickly as the entire slipspace drive came crashing down at him.

"Serves him right," whispered Ashley, a ghost of a smile on her face.

Another human walked onto the screen, the one from earlier working on the massive generator. His gun scanned back and forth, from the vantage point of the fallen marine, he seemed to be checking if the alien was dead, but all the assembled soldiers could see was his legs. The marine dodged out of the way as the alien reappeared, seemingly out of thin air. Gunfire was heard, for a few seconds, seemingly to no effect. The marine then tackled the alien hitting it just as it was about to swing its sword, unbalancing it, and knocking it down. The soldier pulled a pistol and shot several rounds right into the thing's hand and, while the armor was undamaged the pain of impact had apparently caused it to release its sword.

However, the brief time the human was on the offensive was quickly ended. A hammer punch to the man's gut left him gasping for breath, then the massive alien threw him to one side, he landed almost next to the dead marine's camera.

"Like the rest of your race, weak and undisciplined." The alien said in a guttural growl. He picked up the injured human and threw him across the way again, perilously close to a cliff. "There will be no female to save you this time."

"Look me in the eye and say that." The marine coughed out as he struggled to rise off the ground.

"As you wish," the alien said in a mocking tone.

The alien picked up the human by his head and looked at him, contempt evident on even his alien features. "My face will be the last thing you will ever see."

In a quick motion, barely seen from the perspective of the dead marine, the soldier pulled a wicked looking combat knife and stabbed the alien right in the neck. Blood spurted from the wound, and the alien took a few steps back trying to grasp the knife in its throat. The marine, grabbed the fallen sword and stabbed it through the elite's chest, pitching it backwards, dead. "For the record, I would have kicked your ass the first time, had the lady not stopped me."

The view switched position, and in the top right corner the words 'Jerome-092' were seen in a steady green light. A field of corpses almost exactly like the one they had just seen lay strewn about on a narrow bridge, some with staff-like weapons in their hands, or buried in their chests'. The Spartan turned around and walked back to the doorway seen earlier, him and his two fellows began pushing the huge generator inside the doorway, when they were done he turned to the marine who had killed the elite, sergeant's stripes clearly visible on his shoulder. "Sir, the core is already overheating, I'll need to align it manually when we need to blow it."

The sergeant, badly bruised and bloodied, put a hand on the much taller Spartan's shoulder. "Son, I have a feeling that before this is over, we'll need every last Spartan in the fight. I can do this, report back to the ship." The way he said it was the way non-com's usually addressed particularly young or inexperienced soldiers under their command.

"Sir, it's been an honor," a small nod was exchanged between the two as the doors began to close again.

The screen shifted again, this time to footage from the bridge of the ship, it showed what appeared to be a sun inside an inside out world flaring and starting to collapse. The assembled group watched as the massive ship began a slingshot maneuver around the sun and into a narrow hole and out of the planet. The scene shifted again to show where the planet had been, was a disruption similar to what the ship had come out of only hours before.

"That's impossible, even Joker couldn't fly a ship this size through a hole so small with that sort of accuracy." Kaiden said, disbelief in his voice.

Serina piped in at that moment, "UNSC shipboard AIs are more than capable of such pinpoint maneuvers. It's generally why we fly the ship and control the weapons when we are present."

"You let AI control your ships for you? That's insane, what if they were to turn on you?" Tali exclaimed, her body quivering with anger.

"UNSC AI are modeled after flash cloned human brains. They are very nearly human, and are extremely loyal, there isn't a single instance among the one hundred and sixteen 'smart' AI created that one betrayed their commander." Cutter said in an even voice, displaying no emotion. "I'm not here to debate AI ethics with you. I'm here because I need your help. Without our slipspace core, we have no way of travelling beyond this star system. I want to formally petition you government for help, as we are essentially lost, and if you'll pardon the cliché, in space as well as time."

"Which one? The citadel council, or the human systems alliance?" Sheppard asked.

"The systems alliance if they can spare the help, we are human, and I'd still prefer to deal with more of my kind, I don't care how friendly you say these other aliens are." Cutter said, a dark expression across his face.

"Besides which, humans are more likely to take a positive look at AI and super soldiers." Kaiden said, the tone of his voice suggesting weariness directed at the views of the council.

"They are bound to find out eventually though. The salarians are damn good at picking up on anything the alliance is doing. Once they find out, we might have our embassy kicked off the citadel, and then goodbye council seat," Ashley countered.

"Then don't tell them," Captain Cutter looked back to the commander.

"A cover story might work, such as advanced power armor. But the AI would be very noticeable. Especially since you need it to run your ship." Sheppard paused a minute to think. "It would be much better if all four of you could disappear for a while."

"You said you were on a mission commander, what was that mission?" Captain cutter asked.

"About a month ago, the Geth attacked a farming colony, Eden Prime. They were led by a rogue specter named Saren, a turian who hates humans. They nearly succeeded in blowing up the colony with several nuclear devices. The loss of life was tragic, and the attack was unprovoked. Shortly thereafter I was made a specter after exposing Saren for a traitor to the citadel council. Our mission is to hunt him down and find out what he wanted with the prothean beacon on Eden Prime." Sheppard explained quickly, he left out mention of the events on Feros.

To his credit, Cutter didn't waste time on asking questions. "I have an idea, you sound like you could use some help. If you allow it, I'll send the Spartans and Serina on your mission with you. The protection of humanity is the Spartan's primary concern, and if they can get out of the picture while doing so, the more the better. Though you might think to the contrary, the operation of this ship is not dependant on us having an AI; it just makes it a lot smoother."

"Good idea sir," replied Sheppard. "Being with a specter, I could explain away the super soldiers, but having an AI? In some computer system sitting somewhere on my ship? That would be very hard to explain indeed." Sheppard looked at the captain silently asking him to explain his reasoning.

"You'd be surprised just how easy it is to conceal an AI Commander." Cutter smiled a little and then turned to the Spartan with a few red markings on his armor. "Spartan-092, you are hereby entrusted with the safety and security Serina. I'm sending her, and a pelican with you on this mission."

"Yes sir," answered the Spartan crisply.

"What's a pelican?" Ashley asked the aging captain.

"Standard UNSC orbital drop ship," Serina's image was replaced with the picture of a rotating shuttlecraft. "I've looked at the design of your ship commander, and assuming your FTL can handle an object attached to the hull, you won't have any trouble transporting one."

"Yes, the _Normandy_ was actually designed with such an occurrence in mind Captain. There is a universal airlock on the underside of the hull, I'm sure you will be able to attach there. We already have three aliens on board the ship, why not add three illegal super soldiers too?" Sheppard smirked, "The more the merrier."


	4. Departure

The _Spirit of Fire_ hung in space, next to it was a much smaller vessel, which appeared much sleeker and newer than the retrofitted colony ship. An attentive observer would have seen a small shuttlecraft leave the _Spirit_ and travel to the smaller vessel, docking with the _Normandy_ on an underside hatch. Its blocky design seemed out of place next to the sleek curves of the alliance frigate. In the vehicle maintenance bay, a hatch in the floor opened, designed to accommodate large life pods the frigate wouldn't be able to store in its small bay it worked well as a replacement for a shuttlebay.

The first person to climb up the ladder was Commander Sheppard, followed by Tali, Kaiden and Ashley in order. Four Alliance marines stood at attention outside the hatch, weapons across their chest. Wrex and Garrus, their interest piqued by shipboard rumor, walked over to the now open hatch, though they kept a respectable distance back from the armed marines waiting at the hatch.

"Welcome back Sheppard, I see the derelict wasn't so derelict after all?" Garrus inquired, clearly curious about what they had found. What rumors they had heard mentioned a massive human dreadnaught from the future, of course seeing how none of those rumors came from anyone still in the CIC, they probably had little credibility and Garrus was anxious to find out exactly what the commander had found. To his annoyance, the commander simply shook his head and turned back to the open hatch. Garrus leaned closer to try and see.

"Sir, permission to come aboard?" a voice that was deep, yet sounded young came from the hatch.

"Permission granted, welcome to the SSV _Normandy_ Sparta ns," came Sheppard's reply.

Garrus' cheek flanges fell open in surprise as three massive green armored figures climbed out of the hatch, each one had to be as tall as the krogan, including his hump. Each one carried themselves as a veteran, looking around and taking in their surroundings. He noted that each of them was tense, as if expecting trouble.

"They don't look like any humans I've seen." Wrex said calmly, stepping up behind Garrus.

The green armored figure with red markings turned to follow the commander upstairs. The other two turned to the assembled marines and aliens. Sheppard turned around as he entered the lift, "Make yourselves at home, Alenko see if you can't find a place for our guests to stay."

The other two green giants turned to the lieutenant, as Garrus walked up to them and held out his hand. "Greetings, I'm Garrus Vakarian. I take it you're working with us to help bring down Saren?"

The super soldier looked at Garrus for a few moments, and then turned as the second soldier placed a hand on its shoulder. It looked as if some unseen communication passed between the two and then the first one walked off to where Alenko stood. The second soldier looked back to Garrus still ignoring the outstretched hand, "You will have to excuse 042, he's pretty quiet usually, and I don't think talking to aliens is his idea of a good time." The Spartan finally seemed to notice the hand Garrus had offered, and shook it, with a surprisingly loose grip, "I'm Spartan Alice-130, and it's nice to finally talk to an alien rather than kill them."

"Kill them? I didn't think humanity had been in a war since first contact." Garrus replied obviously puzzled.

"If you want to believe Serina's theories, then we are apparently from and alternate universe, I know it sounds farfetched, but it does explain how both us and the humans on this ship are from Earth originally, yet have never heard of each other." The Spartan shrugged. "Either way our standing mission to protect Earth and all her colonies still applies, so that's what we are doing." If Garrus could see inside her helmet, he would have seen a predatory smile across her face. "Besides, these Geth aren't nearly as tough as what we've fought, they shouldn't be a problem at all for a few Spartans."

"The Geth aren't to be underestimated, they are ruthless, strong, fast, and can make the perfect ambushers because of their machine nature." Tali walked out from behind the Spartan. "And they nearly exterminated my race 300 years ago when we attempted to stop our rebellious creations."

"You created those things?" The Spartan inquired of the Quarian.

"Yes, they were originally tools of labor and combat, but they gained intelligence, and questioned their own existence, which provoked us into attempting to exterminate them. Then they won the war, and the remains of my race are now confined to a few thousand ships trying to find a new home, or the power to take back our old home." Tali said this with a trace of sadness in her voice.

"Sounds like you provoked them into acting" The Spartan observed coolly.

"They were already preparing to rebel, we simply acted first, hoping to win the war before it really began, little did we know they were already a lot more advanced than we realized, and in the resulting war billions of quarians lost their lives," A note of anger crept into the quarian's voice.

"At least your race is still around, in whatever limited numbers, wherever we came from, I have to wonder if any human worlds are still around. The covenant were bent on killing us all, in just a few years they had nearly killed a billion of us." The Spartan's voice was quieter than normal, "We didn't even have a chance; our ground forces were almost always routed and hunted down, unless they had Spartans as backup. Even then it was a hard fight just to evacuate the civilians. No matter how hard we fought, though, it never mattered; we needed nearly ten to one odds just to win a pyrrhic victory in space." Alice shook her head, "In 2526 a fleet of one hundred and seven vessels attacked twelve covenant vessels after they had destroyed Aurigae. We destroyed nine of them, and caused three to retreat, but we lost thirty seven of our own ships, including 15 heavy cruisers, the most powerful ships built at the time."

"Why did you keep fighting against such overwhelming odds of survival?" Garrus asked.

"We had no other choice, we didn't have a fleet big enough to transport enough of our population, we didn't have any worlds to retreat to where we were sure the covenant wouldn't follow us, and we still had operational secrecy, the covenant didn't know where any of our colonies or Earth was. They were apparently finding them at random." The Spartan shrugged. "I'm glad to fight an enemy our technology is comparable to."

"With all that fighting, how are you still alive?" Garrus crossed his arms, and looked at the Spartan, his surprise mostly gone and replaced with a sense of curiosity.

"Spartans never die, they just go to hell and regroup," a small chuckle came over the Spartan's speakers.

"This one I like," Wrex walked over from where he had made his home on the Normandy.

***

"The _Madrigal _and the_ Jamestown_ just arrived in system captain," Commander Sheppard and Spartan 092 were standing in the com room, conversing with Captain Cutter. "Along with the FTL tug _Strongman,_ that tug was designed to move damaged dreadnaughts back to our fleet bases, I'm sure they can get you back to the Arcturus fleet station."

"Excellent, I don't know what exactly happened, or where we are, but I thank you for your help commander." Cutter's words were tinged with static, alliance and UNSC communications protocols still weren't fully meshed. "Spartan, remember until we meet again, treat orders from commander Sheppard as you would an order from a UNSC officer, is that understood?"

"Yes sir," The Spartan nodded, even though the captain couldn't see him. He didn't know why the Captain trusted these other humans so much, but he would follow orders, ignoring the ones that conflicted with standing orders or those which were illegal.

"We are departing to the Knossus system, until we meet again captain." Sheppard said and closed the com link.

"Knossus?" Jerome inquired.

"It's a mining world, abandoned some time ago, but it is also home to a lot of prothean relics. It's also where our next lead is, Liara T'soni, an asari scientist, and daughter to Matriarch Benezia. Benezia is one of Saren's cohorts and we're hoping Liara knows something about what he's looking for, or hoping to achieve." Sheppard turned to Jerome. "It will be a few days before we get there, is there anything you and your soldiers need?"

"A few new weapons would be appreciated sir, I don't know much about Geth weapons, but I'm concerned we may run out of ammo in the middle of a firefight without knowing it." He grabbed the pulse rifle off his back to show to Sheppard. "It was pretty effective in fighting them, but once it knocked down their shields it lacked stopping power." He seemed to examine the pulse rifle for a moment. "Actually, a lot like covenant plasma weapons, they work very well against an elite's shields but once the shields are down you're better off shooting them with a bullet than trying to burn them to death. They worked good against Grunts though."

"Plasma weapons? Are you telling me your shields can stop directed energy weapons?" Sheppard sounded incredulous.

"Are you telling me yours can't?" Jerome replied evenly.

"No, our personal shields, and our ship shields can only repel solid objects. If you have plasma weapons, then that could give humanity such a huge leap forward in technology, we would be almost the most powerful race around." Sheppard looked eager, as if considering the implications of plasma based weapons on his galaxy.

"We don't, the covenant do, and despite their best efforts, the spooks at ONI never managed to reverse engineer any covenant technology, other than my own shields."

"That's too bad," Sheppard sounded disappointed. "Well, anyway to answer your question, yes we have plenty of weapons on board, you are welcome to any of the weapons we have in the armory, including any experimental prototypes, being a specter I have access to such weapons, and you are welcome to use them."

"Thank you sir!" Jerome saluted and turned to find the armory.

"I wonder if he thinks I'm still on the Pelican or what?" Serina chimed in from his suit.

"I don't think these people have ever dealt with a smart AI such as yourself Serina, apparently the Geth are the closest things they have to artificial intelligence." Jerome said this under his breath so the helmet's mic wouldn't pick up the conversation. "Besides, it would probably be better not to let him in on that little fact; he knows you are on this mission that should be enough."

"Sure, it's just that I've never been the ace up someone's sleeve." Serina quipped.

"Can we just look at what kind of weapons they have without causing too much trouble?" Jerome asked, a note of frustration in his voice.

"You aren't any fun, you know that?" Only silence answered the AI.

The Spartan arrived at the armory, which surprisingly enough was right there in the vehicle maintenance bay, where the Spartans and the aliens had made their living accommodations. He noticed that Douglas was off by himself, the reclusive Spartan seemed to be sitting and meditating. Alice on the other hand seemed busy telling stories of red team's battles to a few marines and the three aliens, her outgoing nature, while extremely different from most Spartans seemed to let her almost fit in with the crew. The Spartan turned to the requisition officer.

"I need weapons," the Spartan said to the officer, and when he didn't respond immediately, he continued, "Commander Sheppard said I and my team were to have access to your weapons, including experimental ones he had acquired."

"I suppose so, if the commander ordered it. We have the basic stuff, assault rifles, and shotguns. As far as experimental goes, well the only thing we have that isn't in use by the commander's squad is a few pistols." The officer shrugged and pulled out a case. "They are designed to fire high explosive rounds, like little miniature grenades, they fire something like six slugs at once, which explode when they hit the target, the biggest problem is they generally overheat after about four shots in quick succession. No one really wants to use them, because it still takes a few shots to knock out kinetic barriers, and well if you are stuck in a fight with an overheated gun, you might as well be out of the fight."

"How many do you have?" Jerome was curious, the weapons sounded about as effective as brute shots against shielded opponents, powerful, but with very little ammo in a clip, the fact that they were in pistol form made him all the more intrigued.

"Just two, like I said, there aren't many people who want to use these things." The officer looked at Jerome like he was slightly crazy.

"I'd like to request these pistols, along with three assault rifles three shotguns, and two more normal sidearms please, is there a form to fill out, or something?" Jerome was unsure about any alliance requisition protocols.

The man on the other side of the table chuckled, "The commander never asked for forms before, makes my paperwork a bit more cumbersome, but hey, you gotta keep busy yah know?" The look of the Spartan told the officer, that no, he did not know. "Okay, whatever, I'll have the XO fill out the forms since you aren't part of the alliance."

"Thank you," The Spartan replied. He picked up the weapons and carried them over to where Douglas was sitting, "new weapons 042."

The other Spartan looked at him, and for a minute, Jerome didn't think he would respond. "I don't like this 092. We should be out killing aliens so humanity's safety is assured, not out allying with one group against another, waiting for them to betray us."

"You are out of line soldier, look around you, those marines over there trust these aliens more than they trust us, fellow humans, you can see it in their body language. Besides that, we are under orders by a UNSC officer to help this group, human or alien to complete their mission, and save untold numbers from another alien race." He didn't say it with much force, telling Douglas that Jerome was almost as unhappy about it as he was. However his words delivered the message perfectly clear, they were under orders, and Spartans where nothing if not loyal to the UNSC.

"Yes sir!" Douglas answered sharply. To a fellow Spartan, his body language showed that he was ashamed of almost letting the captain down. Jerome realized how close he had actually come to shooting the aliens on sight, much to his surprise.

"That's all Spartan, I'm not going to ask you to be friends, just make sure any prejudices don't get in the line of duty," the words were not phrased as an order, but Jerome knew Douglas would take them as such, and assured of his subordinates actions, Jerome set down the weapons he was carrying to inspect them, and to make sure he knew how to service them when the time came, which he was sure would be soon.

***

The Mako jerked suddenly as it dropped towards the planet. Jerome didn't think much of this sort of combat drop, it reminded him too much of his first combat Pelican drop in which the covenant had shot him down. If it hadn't been for his armor, he would have been the first Spartan casualty of the war. He was riding in the tank with Sheppard, Tali, and Kaiden, he would have liked to have the rest of his Spartan team in the Mako with him, but there wasn't enough room, and so they had remained aboard the _Normandy_ as backup in case it was needed.

The tough little vehicle jerked again as it impacted the surface, right in between two lava flows, inertial compensators, decades ahead of UNSC technology prevented him from feeling much of the impact. Only a few moments after they landed, Sheppard started driving the vehicle forward, along what looked to be a decaying wide dirt road. Though dirt would be a misnomer, the entire path was formed out of cooled lava. The Spartan sighted the turret a top the tank forward and settled down to watch the road roll by.

Joker's voice cut in over the com, "Commander, I'm picking up some strange readings, really strange, like off the damn charts." Joker paused for a moment, "It looks like it's coming from an underground complex a few klicks away from the drop zone."

Not a minute after the pilot said this, Jerome overheard a strange vibration, and saw a Geth ship pass overhead, and it appeared to drop off a pair of tanks then departed. Jerome sighted in on the first one even before he heard the commander's orders to open fire. The first heavy shell hit the vehicle, a four legged walker, with apparently no effect. He hosed it down with the machine gun as he was waiting for another shell to reload and was surprised to see it topple over; apparently the machine gun had caused enough damage for the machine to collapse. He turned his sights to the second walker, this time firing the machine gun first in a similar length burst followed by a blast from the main gun. This time the results were more satisfying, the walker exploded raining parts down as the Mako passes.

"Good work Spartan," Kaiden congratulated him.

Jerome nodded in acknowledgement and turned back to his gun sights, looking for more Geth. As they rounded a corner he saw several dark shapes rear up from a small structure, it looked like a gate. "Turrets, ahead at the gate!" He shouted to his companions.

"I don't think we can take that strong point head on!" Kaiden yelled back.

Sheppard turned the wheel and slung the Mako into a narrow side pass and directly into the path of another turret. He triggered the vehicles jets to dodge an incoming rocket. Jerome's aim never wavered, luckily these turrets seemed even weaker than the walking tanks from earlier. Quickly falling to the one two punch of a machine gun and cannon round.

Sheppard drove the Mako straight into the compound, driving the tank like an oversized warthog, ramming over a huge red colored Geth in the process, knocking it down, then backing up, allowing Jerome to finish it off with the cannon. The other Geth were quickly dispatched with the machine gun, their small arms doing little to the Mako's shields.

"Alright team, dismount, we have to open that gate," Sheppard stopped the Mako near the far gate, away from the one with the turrets, in such a manner that any turrets outside the gate would not be able to shoot the Mako.

Spartan-092 leapt out of the hatch, assault rifle at the ready, but he didn't see any Geth nearby.

"Motion tracker shows one signal inside the gate housing on the left side," Serina chimed in helpfully. "Probably where the controls are located unless I miss my guess."

"This way sir," The Spartan gestured to the bunker on the left side. The team followed him inside; they could hear the strange clicking noise most Geth made when they encountered targets. But before any of the others could react, Jerome sprinted around the corner from the entrance and delivered a punch to the Geth's chest before it could even react. His fist cam clear out the other side, his other hand held the Geth's arm and the rifle still held tightly in its hand, which was removed at the elbow.

"Damn, I'm glad he is on our side," Kaiden muttered under his breath.

After a few minutes of searching they found the controls to the gate and activated them, to their relief there weren't any turrets on the other side. And the Mako was able to proceed out without incident.

They drove for another couple of kilometers before they started seeing a blue glow up ahead, as the glow grew brighter it soon resolved into the shape of a rocket. Sheppard took evasive action, easily dodging the slow moving projectiles.

"That's odd, those tanks seem to be designed to hit slow moving targets, not highly mobile vehicles like this one, I wonder why they are deploying them if they know what is coming." Serina sounded puzzled.

After dispatching two of them Jerome answered her question. "Maybe it's all they have, they are robots, I wouldn't think they have much capability to upgrade themselves and their tanks, that or they are stretched thin and the ship they dispatched here wasn't expecting this kind of resistance."

Jerome sighted two more on a ridge above them and quickly and efficiently destroyed them. To their right was a much more frightening sight. Dozens of troopers were running to scraps of cover among the volcanic rocks and were firing rockets at them, one hit the Mako doing little damage to its shields, but Sheppard took evasive action as Jerome methodically cut each down in turn with the machine gun.

Then he saw something that brought back memories of whole squad of marines being wiped out by a green beam of plasma. He reacted on instinct triggering both weapons at the same time, but it did little to the colossal Geth tank in front of him. Sheppard circle strafed the thing as it tried to fire its slow moving projectile at them, and while that weapon never hit the vehicle, the thing's secondary machine guns did, almost dropping the shields all the way, until finally it's shields went down and a pair more cannon shots took it down.

"What was that thing?" Jerome asked the commander.

"I don't know, but it was tough and dangerous, we'll need to send a report back to the alliance to make sure they know about these things." Sheppard continued driving, up and into what was apparently a human made tunnel.

"Reminds me of a covenant Scarab super tank. Those were about as big, but their main plasma weapon could bore through the side of the mountain, that was almost as tough though," Jerome remarked. "Wish we had a tank this nice against one of those."

"Remind me to avoid visiting your earth in the future" Kaiden said dryly.

They only ran into a few more groups of rocket armed troopers as they went along, until they came to a cluster of rocks. "Looks like we go in on foot," Sheppard said, and the quartet disembarked.

They came across a group of three troopers first, concentrated assault rifle fire from the Spartan and Sheppard took out one, and knocked out the other's shields, Tali finished it off with a blast from her shotgun. Before the Spartan could turn to the second one, he noticed Kaiden started to glow blue, and made a motion at the third trooper which went flying through the air and landed among some rocks obviously broken.

"What the hell was that?" The Spartan asked, though he didn't raise his gun at the lieutenant seeing as how the others were unfazed.

"Biotics, in utero exposure to element zero causes defects, the least harmful of which is the ability to control mass effect fields, like those our technology is based off of.

"Amazing, telekinetic abilities caused in human beings, if we could get this element zero to ONI we might gain an advantage in the war." Serina said inside the Spartan's head. "Sorry, were you trying to kill something?"

Jerome just nodded, taking his companion's ability in stride. An expert on Spartan body language would have been able to tell he was very confused, but he was on a mission and didn't let little things like telekinesis and dyson spheres from getting in his way of completing a mission.

They continued on their way, gunning down a few more troopers as they approached a small dip in the ground. Jerome almost instinctively spotted a sniper hiding in a tower and quickly dispatched the Geth with his assault rifle, preventing it from lining up a shot on the quarian.

"There's the source of the reading," Sheppard said.

As the squad walked up into the mining complex they heard the unmistakable drone of a Geth dropship as it roared overhead, dropping a tank and several troopers directly in from of the group. Jerome noted a pair of well muscled, spider like Geth walking on the walls of the mining complex.

"What are you doing?" Serina asked as he started to move.

"Trust me," came his reply, he sprinted forward and leapt into the air with perfect timing as one of the spiderlike Geth started to jump, he hit the Geth and kicked off, sending the machine uncontrolled to the ground, damaging it. The armature saw him moving and focused its main gun on him instead of the squad, but it was too slow, missing him by nearly two feet, the Spartan landed on the thing's back and pulled out his shotgun, he selected the alternate fire the _Normandy_'s quartermaster had told him about and shot the armature at point blank range, the blast blew a gaping hole in the thing's neck and it slumped lifeless to the ground. But it also knocked out his shields, and blew apart the barrel of his shotgun.

He threw the weapon away in disgust and drew his paired experimental pistols, ready for whatever the Geth would throw at him, only to find that they had all been destroyed by his allies. He looked at them, expressions of awe on Kaiden and Tali's face. Sheppard looked only mildly impressed.

"Into the mine, let's go!" Sheppard gestured, when the Spartan turned his back he shook his head in wonder. He had never seen anything do something like that. It had to be impossible for a human to be capable of such feats, but the thing had just likely saved all their lives from the armature, so he decided to keep trusting it, for now.

Jerome followed the squad down the mine shaft; it was a steep circular tunnel that seemed to lead into a cavern. At the bottom were more Geth troopers. They were easily dispatched, just like all the others. They rode what looked to be an elevator set up by the miners down several levels, all the while looking at the wall, and the strange blue energy field that covered most of the openings.

"It doesn't look like it's the work of the race that made that dyson sphere." Serina seemed to answer a question the Spartan wasn't asking.

"It doesn't feel like it either. The technology on that shield world felt somehow familiar, like from a long lost past. This just looks old, and alien." Jerome said quietly to Serina.

As they got near the bottom, the elevator started sparking, slowed down, and then stopped a few feet from some torn scaffolding. Jerome heard a female voice coming from a level down.

"Uh, hello out there, can you hear me? I'm trapped I need help." The voice said.

The four dropped down and saw a blue skinned woman suspended in the strange energy fields. Jerome would have almost sword she was human had he not noticed the blue skin and the wavy folds of skin that looked almost like hair on her head.

Sheppard answered her, "quit shouting, there are Geth crawling all over this place."

The blue humanoid seemed a little taken aback, "I'm sorry, look, my name is Liara T'Soni, and I'm an archaeologist. The thing I'm trapped in is a Prothean security device. I can't move, so I… I need you to get me out alright?" She sounded panicked.

"Your mother, Benezia is working for Saren which side are you on?" Sheppard asked.

"What?... I am not on anybody's side." Liara sounded indignant. "I may be Benezia's daughter, but I am nothing like her! I have not spoken to her in years. Please. Just get me out of here." She was pleading now.

"How can we help?" Sheppard asked.

"There is a control in here that will deactivate the security device, but you will have to find some way of getting in here. That's the tricky part. I don't know how you will find a way in here." She paused for a minute. "Be careful, there was a Krogan with the Geth, they have been trying different ways to get in here."

They descended to the rocky floor, finding yet another Geth patrol, this one was as easily dispatched as the last. "Maybe we could use the mining laser to cut through the rock and the barrier." Tali suggested helpfully. She walked over to the laser, and used her omnitool to hack into its limited systems to start it up. They all felt a rumble in the ground as the laser bored through solid rock, leaving a hole in the ruins. In silence they walked into the ruins. An elevator activated, taking them up to the level of the Asari scientist.

"What, how did you get in here?" Liara demanded, as Sheppard hit a control to release her from her prison.

"We blasted through with the mining laser." Sheppard answered simply.

"Yes, that makes sense." Liara stopped as an earthquake rumbled through the cavern. "These ruins are not entirely stable, we should leave, there is an elevator at the center of the structure, at least I think it is an elevator."

"Hurry people, let's move!" Sheppard shouted as another tremor caused dust and rocks to fall from higher up in the cavern.

All five of them rode the elevator up in agonizing slowness, until it finally reached the top. Where a massive Krogan and several Geth sat waiting. The Krogan readied it's shotgun in anticipation. "Surrender, or don't, that would be more fun."

Before it finished speaking, Jerome, acting on instinct ran full tilt towards the Krogan. As he ran he saw it preparing a telekinetic attack like the one Kaiden had used earlier, and he prepared himself to go flying across the room. To his surprise, and the Krogan's it barely felt like a breeze to him as he ran and smashed into the Krogan. He felt the ugly frog-like being's spine break. When it hit the floor it was already dead. He looked to the right, and that action saved his life as he rolled out of the way of a white Geth's rocket submunition shot from its shotgun. He pulled his pistols and sent four high explosive shots from each into the Geth, blowing apart its chest and sending it flying backwards, its limbs separate from its body. His shields flared as they took damage from the second white trooper. He found in irritation that his pistols had overheated, and he ducked behind cover waiting a second for them to recover. He popped back out from behind cover with full shields and fired four shots at the trooper, blowing off its head.

"Spartan, look out!" Jerome barely heard Kaiden's explanation, and turned to shoot a Geth carrying a sniper rifle as it lined up on him, he knew that he wouldn't be able to collapse its shields and take it down before it shot him. He was saved from dwelling on these thoughts as it was grabbed roughly by the blue skinned alien in a telekinetic grip and thrown upwards towards the ceiling, sending it crashing down in a shower of sparks.

The Spartan turned to the alien that saved his life, "thanks." Believing that to be enough he turned to leave, and the group followed him. As he left he saw that outside the Prothean ruins, the situation was much worse. Rocks were crashing down from the ceiling and dust was flying everywhere. Almost at once, the other four broke into a sprint, the Spartan lagged behind, making sure no one was left as they fled the collapsing tunnel.

"Move, move, move," Sheppard shouted.

The two military men were easily going to make it, but Jerome noticed the asari and the quarian were falling behind, not being used to a military regimen, their stamina was not as great. He adjusted his pace to keep up with the other two humans and boldly swung an alien over each shoulder, carrying them all the way out of the collapsing mine, and onto the waiting _Normandy_.

Just in time, the _Normandy_ pulled away from the surface as molten lava began to pour out of the crater left by the mine.

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Author's note: Okay, I finally got to some combat. Reviews appreciated


	5. Destructive Meetings

Arcturus station was abuzz with rumors, anything from humanity being given a council seat, to a new prothean relic being discovered. None of them were bound in fact, and all of them stemmed from the recent influx of dock workers and highly trained specialists. Something big was happening at the main fleet shipyards, and not many people knew what it was. All the rumors were immediately dispelled as the FTL tug _Strongman_ arrived, escorted by two cruisers. From the point of view of an observer on the station, all eyes turned towards the huge utility craft. It was bigger than the largest helium-3 freighters, and the ship it held in its embrace was unlike any the crews of Arcturus had seen.

"Captain, we've come out at a shipyard, I haven't seen so many ships since the harvest offensive!" The helmsman exclaimed.

"It's nice to know that humanity is powerful in this universe," Cutter muttered under his breath. "It makes what I want to do easier."

"Sir, a shuttlecraft is approaching, an Admiral Hackett is requesting permission to come aboard," A com tech informed Captain Cutter.

Cutter still wasn't used to the greater numbers of techs on his bridge ever since he sent Serina out with the Spartans. He didn't regret his decision, but he missed her ability in administrative tasks. "I'll meet him in docking bay one lieutenant."

About half an hour later, Cutter found himself in the docking bay, flanked on both sides with four marines; each one carried a captured Geth pulse rifle. The bay was crowded with Pelicans warthogs and Scorpion tanks. In front of him sat a shuttle that seemed out of place amid the olive drab camo pelicans, and the dirty deck, covered with burn marks from combat pelican launches. It was far too shiny looking, almost a pure white. The aesthetics uncomfortably reminded him of the dyson sphere, so recent in his memory.

A tall, well built man, with slightly graying hair stepped down from a set of folding stars on the side of the shuttle. "Permission to come aboard captain?" The admiral asked the older man in front of him.

"Permission granted admiral, welcome to the _Spirit of fire_." Cutter snapped to attention and saluted the other officer. He didn't really care that he was from a foreign power; he was another human that was good enough for him.

***

Jerome stood in the _Normandy_'s com room. He didn't trust the chairs to support his half ton weight. The other members of what he thought of as Sheppard's personal squad were sitting in the chairs throughout the room. He and his fellow Spartans were standing near the door. He was studying the Asari they had rescued. She looked almost human. At least if one ignored the blue skin, and strange fleshy hair.

She was talking about the fate of the Protheans, the race whose ruins they had just barely escaped. She was talking about how apparently there was a cycle in effect, a cycle of extinction.

Sheppard cut into the conversation at that moment. "I know what wiped out the Protheans all those millennia ago. It was a race of sentient machines, called the Reapers."

Liara sounded disbelieving, "re… reapers? But how… how did you get this information?"

"There was a damaged Prothean beacon on Eden prime, it burned a vision into my brain, and I'm still trying to make sense of it all." Sheppard answered.

"Yeah, and what that other Asari did to you didn't help did it commander?" Ashley cut in, a note of venom in her voice.

Jerome's interest was piqued, "What other Asari?"

"That happened just before you joined up Jerome," Sheppard sounded weary. "An Asari had used some sort of telepathic ability to gather something she called the cipher. Essentially it was a way to understand the Prothean psyche. She thought it would help me understand the vision I got from the Beacon. It didn't seem to help."

"Perhaps I can be of assistance commander," Liara sounded full of youthful enthusiasm to Jerome. "I have spent the past fifty years studying the Protheans; perhaps I could understand it better than you could."

"Fifty years? How old are you exactly?" Sheppard asked.

"I am ashamed to say this, but I am only one hundred and six," Liara sounded slightly embarrassed.

"Dayum… I hope I look that good when I'm her age." Ashley exclaimed.

"My species is very long lived; I'm barely an adult by your standards," Liara hurriedly explained. She stood up and walked over to the commander. "With your permission I would like to join our consciousness so that I can try to interpret your vision."

"Joined consciousnesses, sounds made up," Alice remarked sarcastically.

Liara turned to the hulking Spartan, and reflexively backed up a little. "I don't know what species you are, but my species is capable of forming a bond with any other species. Our nervous systems merge and become one for a moment, thoughts and memories are shared," she turned back to Sheppard. "With my knowledge of the Protheans, I might be able to make sense of whatever vision you saw."

"If it will help us stop Saren, I'm all for it. Go ahead," Sheppard stepped forward towards Liara.

"Try to relax commander," Liara closed her eyes as she stepped closer to the commander. "Embrace eternity!"

Jerome's hand went automatically to his sidearm, though he didn't actually draw it. Alice had done the same. Douglas however had his sidearm drawn and pointed at the Asari.

"What are you doing?" Garrus exclaimed and made to draw his own weapon.

Jerome put his hand on Douglas' and shook his head. The other Spartan slowly lowered his weapon. "Don't ever do that again," Jerome said coolly. Douglas looked defiant for a moment before obedience took over. His status light winked green in response to the order. Jerome held his subordinates gaze for another few heartbeats before looking back to the commander. Sheppard seemed to be coming out of a daze, rubbing his head and looking slightly disoriented. He seemed about to say something before Liara cut in.

"That was, amazing. In all my years of research, I never imagined. That was amazing." Words were tumbling out of the alien's mouth.

"What did you find out?" Sheppard cut in to stop her rambling.

"I'm not sure, the beacon must have been damaged, there is some information, but it is fragmentary incomplete. If we could find an undamaged beacon, it could fill in the gaps that this one left." Liara looked tired for a moment, then became weak in the knees and sat down in a nearby chair.

"When was the last time you ate? Or slept?" Kaiden asked, "Doctor Chakwas should have a look at you.

"I am fine; it is probably just mental exertion from the melding." She sounded slightly uncertain, "Though I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be examined by a medical professional." She paused slightly, "If there is nothing else commander?"

"Crew dismissed, except you Jerome." Sheppard said, and the group filed out. "I want to ask you something."

"What is it sir?" Jerome stood at attention in front of the commander.

"That melding gave me an idea, a way to verify your story," Sheppard said.

"Sir?" Jerome sounded confused.

"I trust you Spartan, as much as I trust anyone who saves my life, but I don't trust you enough to take anything you say on credit, so to speak." Sheppard smiled a little. "As soon as she is up for it, and assuming she agrees, I want you to let her meld with you, so she can corroborate your story."

"Do you trust her that much?" Jerome asked. "She is an alien after all."

"She is also young, naïve, and guileless. Besides that, I know better than to trust someone just because they are human." Sheppard shook his head a little, as if to clear bad memories.

"Sadly, it's the same way back home sir," Jerome smiled a little under his helmet. Though he knew the commander couldn't see it.

"You have no idea Spartan," Serina said inside his helmet.

"I'll do it sir," Jerome finally said.

"Good, I'll ask for you when we're ready." Commander Sheppard smiled, "Dismissed."

As Jerome turned to leave, Sheppard hit a few controls to contact the citadel council. He hoped they would show some sense this time, maybe they wouldn't be so dense this time. He laughed a little at the thought, and then hit the button to finalize the link.

***

Cutter sat with Admiral Hackett in the flag officer's mess, a converted private dining room on the _Spirit of Fire_. It was intended to serve the captains of ships currently under repair by the _Spirit_. They were not interested in the food on the table in front of them. Hackett seemed intensely curious about his ship, but cutter knew he was actually extremely suspicious, looking for holes in his story. Eventually he got tired of the political playing and finally told the admiral what he wanted.

"Sir, we are lost, if you want proof, just get whatever technicians you want aboard to look at the computer systems. Our logs and, probably personal journals will show you that I'm telling you the truth." Cutter seemed exasperated. "No matter where we are from, the fact remains. We need help. We have no FTL system, no way of contacting our superiors, no way of even getting home." Hackett motioned for him to continue. "What I'm about to ask may seem odd, and to my superiors, treasonous, but it is the best course of action as I see it."

"What do you mean?" Hackett looked curiously at his opposite number.

"I'd like to petition for myself and my crew to join the systems alliance navy." Cutter sighed as if he had let a load off his chest.

"What are you talking about?" Hackett asked the older captain.

"I've already discussed this with my officers on this ship, and they all agree. We're lost here; we have limited amounts of food, and nowhere to go. Our best bet for survival, and to fulfill our duties is to join the systems alliance." Cutter looked much older all of a sudden, "I hate to betray the oath we took to the UNSC, but I feel that the oath we took to defend Earth and her colonies supersedes that one."

Hackett looked thoughtful for several long moments, "I'll pass your request onto my superiors. With the war on, I don't think there will be too many problems, and if we can somehow confirm your story I'm sure they would be delighted to have you."

"What are your thoughts on the matter sir?" Cutter asked, noting that Hackett hadn't said anything about his personal opinion.

"I'd personally love to have an experienced crew, and if our technicians can retrofit your vessel, we would have another dreadnaught long before the _Aconcagua_ is finished. It could be enough that we can take the fight to the Geth rather than letting the colonies take the brunt of any attacks." Hackett seemed to make up his mind about something. "I see no reason to pass along the farfetched story of alternate universes however. As far as I and the fleet are concerned, you are all from a long lost colony from before Prothean discovery. You are fleeing the destruction of your world at the hands of genocidal aliens, looking to return to long lost Earth."

"Thank you sir! I'll spread the word among my crew." Cutter looked infinitely grateful.

The joyous moment was interrupted suddenly as alarms started to blare. Cutter ran quickly to the nearest intercom. "Bridge, status report!"

"Captain Sensors picked up two 1000 meter ships at the edge of our sensor range, along with about twenty smaller contacts. The Systems Alliance seems to be moving to engage." The voice sounded confident.

"Two dreadnaughts! We'll be destroyed." Hackett exclaimed.

"What? You must have nearly thirty small ships all around this shipyard." Cutter responded.

"A dreadnaught can defeat many times its number in a conventional battle; their kinetic barriers are just that much more powerful than normal ships. Thirty ships might be able to overcome them, but the losses will be extreme." Hackett looked disturbed, as if he had already written off the defenders of Arcturus station. "The Geth couldn't have picked a better time to hit us, the _Everest_ and _Kilimanjaro_ are both out with the majority of the fleet hunted a possible Geth fleet contact near Terra Nova. They must have planned this. They'll knock out our main fleet repair hub in one fell swoop."

Cutter turned back to the intercom. "Spin up MAC cannon, get targeting solution on lead dreadnaught, I'll be there shortly. He and the admiral both took a nearby elevator down to the bridge. Along the way the lights flickered slightly.

"What was that captain?" The admiral sounded worried about the apparently technologically inferior ship.

"MAC cannon spinning up, our ship wasn't originally built with one, and it was added later on when the war broke out." Cutter answered as they arrived on the bridge. "Have targeting solutions been plotted yet?"

"Yes sir, three rounds ready to fire." The weapons tech answered sharply.

"Damn, three alliance cruisers wiped out," The sensors tech exclaimed.

"You can't possibly expect to hit them at this range can you?" Hackett shook his head. "Not that it will matter."

Cutter glanced at the admiral with a raised eyebrow before turning back to the weapons tech. "Fire the first round, target the closest dreadnaught."

Colossal energies built up inside the MAC gun aboard the _Spirit of Fire_. A twenty kilogram slug the size of a basketball was loaded into place. In a shot that shook the entire refitted colony ship, it was flung out at 6,000 km/s at the approaching dreadnaught, one fiftieth the speed of light. By comparison, a Geth dreadnaught's main weapon could only fire a 2 kg slug **359** km/s. No known kinetic barriers could stop the MAC round as it passed clean through the Geth ship and hit a Frigate on the other side of the ship.

As the icon representing the Geth dreadnaught winked off the screen, Hackett could only stare in open mouthed wonder. "How!"

Cutter wasted no time in answering the admiral. "Fire second round, half charge, target the second dreadnaught."

The weapons tech quickly answered, "Aye sir! Second round firing in thirty seconds."

The Geth ships were in a state of utter confusion, they seemed to be milling about as if cut off from orders, trying to find the source of the last shot. The frigates and cruisers started falling to the alliance ships, which quickly had taken advantage of their confused state.

"Impossible! The heat buildup alone would render a ship useless, the crew fried to a crisp!" Hackett finally managed to exclaim.

"That was one of Shaw's innovations in the creation of an FTL drive…" Cutter cut off as the second round fired. "Third round, same orders, target the next largest ship." He turned back to the Admiral. "A super coolant, UNSC ships are impervious to overheating with current systems active."

"Sir, remaining ships are bugging out," The tech smiled. "We did it captain!"

The third MAC round caught a cruiser before it could enter FTL and escape. Hackett composed himself and turned to Cutter. "I'd like to formally accept you into the ranks of the System Alliance Captain, I'm sure you and your ship and technology would be welcome defenders of Humankind."

"On behalf of my crew, I accept." Cutter smiled and shook Hackett's proffered hand.

"Until further notice, you are attached to my personal command, you are not to take orders from anyone but me, is that clear?" Hackett asked cutter.

"Absolutely sir, and it's good to be back in the fight." Cutter released Hackett's hand and turned to a com tech."What's the damage son?"

"Out of twenty two vessels, twelve destroyed, six alliance ships lost, three cruisers, three frigates." The com tech returned a mixture of elation and sadness in his voice.

"This could be an unprecedented leap forward in military technology." Admiral Hackett said simply. "I just hope our researchers can come up with some sort of kinetic barrier to stop such a fearsome weapon. Otherwise, when the next war comes around, it will be bloody."

"UNSC vessels have never engaged one another. I was hoping to never see the day when such a fight would happen. The losses would be, extreme." Cutter remarked quietly.

"Hopefully we will be able to shield against such hits in the future. Still, once we get our hands on this technology, the other races will soon follow. Any wars we fight will get bloody." Hackett sighed, his elation at winning the battle gone.

***

Sheppard walked into the small anteroom from the med bay where Liara had made her home. Liara noticed him as he walked in. She stood up to greet the alliance officer. "Commander Sheppard, I haven't had a chance to thank you for saving my life. If you hadn't come when you did, I would probably be dead or worse." She paused, "I know you took a risk bringing me aboard this ship. I see the way your crew looks at me. They don't trust me. I am nothing like Benezia; I won't stop until we bring Saren down." She looked at the commander for a minute, "but, that's not why you came down here is it?"

"No, it's not. I want to ask you a question about this melding. Can you use it to see if someone is telling the truth, to experience what they have?" Sheppard crossed his arms and looked at the Asari.

"Well, yes, but it is much more complicated than that. When we asari meld we touch the mind of the other person, we look at their genetic memories and physical ones. It is all very hard to sort out, and if the other's mind is not willing it can be a traumatic experience." She sounded unsure of herself. "I myself have only melded infrequently."

"You can come in now Jerome." Sheppard turned as the door opened, letting the green armored giant through. "I know it's probably improper, but I need to know if the Spartans are telling the truth about where they came from."

"Spartans? I'm sorry, uh, Jerome, but I'm unfamiliar with your species." Liara stammered a little as she said this.

A deep chuckle resonated from inside the Spartan's armor. "You might be surprised, but I'm actually a human."

"A human? I'm sorry, I don't know much about your race, and I didn't know you could be so… Physically imposing." Liara seemed extremely embarrassed.

Jerome was taken aback by the way the alien seemed so, human, in her emotions, but he tried not to show it. "Yeah, most humans don't either."

"Not to mention the poor unfortunate elites you've run across over the years," Serina popped in over his suit com for a moment.

"Wait, what? Now I am thoroughly confused. I thought you said you were human." The asari scientist started rubbing her hands together. Apparently a nervous habit.

"The Spartans say they are from some sort of parallel Earth were the Protheans never existed, and where a genocidal race of aliens are hunted them to extinction. They supposedly detonated their type of FTL system inside a star, causing it to go nova, and tearing a portal to our universe. Which they claim is how they got here." Sheppard gestured to the Spartan. "Their ship came out of some sort of strange anomaly as we were leaving Feros; it ran into a Geth cruiser and ended up saving the _Normandy_ on accident. It's possible that their story is true, but I want it confirmed somehow."

"So you want me to try and meld with him to confirm the story?" Liara asked.

"Essentially, yes I do," The commander stepped back so Jerome could step forward.

The asari cautiously stepped closer to the green armored man. "Try to relax Jerome… Embrace eternity!"


	6. Down Time

Liara stumbled backwards, as if about to fall over, only tripping over, and subsequently landing in the chair she was sitting in moments ago. "I don't… who… what… reclaimer…" She continued almost incoherent ramblings for several minutes.

Sheppard looked over at the super soldier, "What the hell did you just do?"

"I don't know sir, whatever just happened was not my intention," Jerome replied, his eyes not leaving the asari. Her rantings started to trail off and she looked more and more in control of herself. "Whatever it was, she seems to be coming around sir,"

Liara finally seemed to come around, as if waking up from a dream, "There were two minds… one was distant, and machine like in nature, I could barely touch it. The other…" She shuddered. "It was human I suppose, but the memories…" She shook her head. "Hundreds of worlds burning, or being consumed."

"Hundreds? We only lost about a dozen in the war, what are you talking about?" Jerome looked at the asari.

"Two minds? A split personality?" Sheppard looked at the Spartan.

"Actually she was probably talking about me," a new female voice chimed in over the helmet speakers. "We've met before commander; I'm Serina, _Spirit of Fire_'s AI. I have been keeping my presence a secret, but I feel now would be a good a time as any."

"How the hell are you in his suit, an AI should be just data files without its quantum computing box." Sheppard demanded, obviously a little annoyed at being kept out of the loop.

"UNSC AI are made from flash cloned brains of humans, so in an emergency we can use the spare parts of another human's brain and nervous system for spare processing power, the Mjolner suit makes it possible for the direct interface." The Ai continued, "Which is probably the cause of the shock she got when she tried whatever she just did."

"No, no, my shock was what was contained in his genetic memory," Liara shook her head. "It is very different than yours Sheppard, and yet very similar." She paused for a moment as if considering her words. "The other mind was unexpected, but distant. It is not what caused me such confusion though." She tried to stand up, but quickly sank back down in the chair, obviously exhausted. "Your group of humans were left behind in your universe intentionally." She looked at the Spartan as she said this.

"Left behind? But we evolved on Earth." The Spartan shook his head. "That's impossible."

"Not at all," Liara continued. "You apparently were left with a very specific genetic memory, as if someone wanted you to remember very specifically. You are apparently the reclaimers, inheritors of all your predecessors left behind. Your race was originally very advanced nearly three million years ago; they held the entire galaxy under their rule, happily coexisting with other less advanced species when the flood came. That's where the memory gets darker, more sinister. The flood were a parasite, that took the bodies of sentient beings as thralls or food, maybe both, and led by something called a grave mind, they fought against the forerunners pushing them back until only their last defenses on Earth remained."

"Parasite? That sounds uncomfortably familiar," Jerome said.

"Please continue," Sheppard was extremely interested in the story; apparently these humans had ancestors that fought something worse than the reapers.

"They removed all remaining sentient species they could find to a place they called the ark, and then fired something they called the array, and wiped out all sentient life in the galaxy." She turned to the commander.

"How?" The commander was leaning against a wall now trying to make sense of it all. "All this doesn't really seem possible."

"It makes sense though," Serina's voice cut in again. "Reports from marine units said that ancient alien technology we found seemed to activate almost when they looked at it. Professor Anders was able to activate a teleporter in the dyson sphere just by speaking to it, in English even. She also reported that the covenant required her to activate a hidden fleet of dreadnaughts in the same location." If the assembled people could have seen her, she would have looked thoughtful. "Besides that, there was a parasite that matches your description infesting the dyson sphere; they never displayed much intelligence beyond that of a smart animal though."

"From what I learned from your brain Jerome, they seemed to get smarter the more they consumed, absorbing the knowledge of those they consumed. The forerunners hoped to starve them when they activated the array." She looked back to the commander, "Then they left behind some of their number in a de-evolved state, for whatever reason, and they left."

"Then why didn't you find any of this in my mind?" The commander asked suspiciously.

"I couldn't see it before, but where there is this genetic memory in him," She gestured to Jerome, "There are empty gaps in your genetic memory." She shook her head, "His story is true though, they don't know how they got here. If I had to guess, humanity in this universe is either completely alternate, or somehow descended from the forerunners who left their home behind."

"That sounds a little farfetched," The commander said.

"You may not believe me commander, but genetic memories of a species never lie. Though normally they are just simple instincts and normal evolutionary information, I've never heard of one so vivid, or that could be put into words." The asari continued. "Any other Asari would believe me immediately if they were to meld with him, or any other human from this other universe.

"This parasite, it didn't follow you here did it?" Sheppard asked the Spartan.

"No, it was most likely destroyed along with the shield world when we detonated the star inside it.

"The council is just going to love this. They don't really believe me about the reapers, I doubt they would believe me about this." Sheppard shook his head.

Joker's voice cut in over the intercom, "Sir, admiral Hackett for you, he says he wants to talk to you and the Spartan you have with you."

"I'll be in the com room shortly. Come on, you too Liara." Sheppard walked out of the med bay, the other two close behind him.

Admiral Hackett's holographic image flickered briefly as they entered, "Hello commander, Spartan. Arcturus recently came under attack by a large Geth fleet. Don't worry; they were repulsed with moderate losses." His voice seemed to catch on something as he said that. "If it wasn't for the _Spirit of Fire_ I would probably be dead, their main gun completely destroyed two Geth dreadnaughts in just as many shots. Needless to say, the Salarians were quick to pick up on this. The citadel has learned of our guests and are demanding that we 'allow' them to send a diplomatic team to greet the newcomers."

"That could be disastrous," Jerome replied. "There are plenty of marines aboard the _Spirit_ who have lost loved ones; they would probably just shoot any aliens aboard despite any orders to the contrary."

"Those were Captain Cutter's words exactly. He suggested an alternate proposal. He wants to send a group to the citadel instead." Hackett continued. "I know your mission takes priority, but you've had the most experience with these people. I'd like you to escort their diplomatic mission to the citadel for us."

"But sir, stopping Saren must take priority, and I still have Noveria to investigate." Sheppard seemed about to refuse.

"I realize that commander, but I can't think of anyone better suited to getting the council to listen than one of their own Specters." Hackett replied, his voice as even as ever. "Besides I know the Normandy will be needing more supplies soon, you couldn't have picked up any at Feros, or Therum."

"Sir, there are many other colonies along the way we could procure supplies from." Sheppard felt he was fighting a losing argument. "I suppose it can wait sir, from what I've learned Saren will need another intact beacon in order to find the conduit."

"I'm glad you can help commander, their diplomatic party will be waiting when you arrive, Hackett out." With that, the connection closed.

"Joker, head to Arcturus station." Sheppard sighed, "Politics get on my nerves, let's get this over with as soon as possible."

"Aye Aye sir," came the reply.

***

Anders sat waiting in the hangar bay, sitting on top of a suitcase that was actually packed full of computers and other equipment, with only a few changes of clothes thrown in as an afterthought. She had been woken up as they were just being towed off by the systems alliance, and while she had access to all of Serina's files regarding the slipspace tear, as she called it, she knew next to nothing about the alliance. Other than what they had told Serina and the captain about their supposed history.

She sighed and looked at her escort. A small fire team of ODSTs, probably the last thing she would need if she was supposed to be the diplomat to a bunch of friendly aliens. Each one was equipped with captured covenant Plasma rifles; the _Spirit_ had a couple hundred aboard. The ODSTs didn't have shields like anyone they would encounter, but they could hit back despite the lack by using the covenant weapons. She looked back at the hangar elevator as it lowered a pelican, her ride.

The back hatch of the pelican lowered towards the collected group and Sheppard stepped down to the decking, followed by Jerome. Douglas was in the cockpit flying the bird. No one else had come because Sheppard had decided to make a quick pickup then to head directly to the citadel.

"I trust that's everything?" Sheppard tried to pick up the suitcase for Anders.

"I can carry it myself thank you." Anders said coolly.

"You didn't tell me she was the feminist type." Sheppard turned to Cutter and Hackett, who were there to see them off. The comment got a few laughs from the ODSTs assembled in the hangar bay.

"Yes, she isn't exactly the most military minded person in my crew, but her insight has been invaluable over the past month." Cutter smiled a bit at old memories.

"I'm also a scientist, not a diplomat. I'm not really cut out for mingling with crowds, more for studying artifacts." Anders replied, some trace of an old argument in her words.

"You'll do fine," Cutter turned to the ODSTs. "I know you are used to killing aliens, marines, so what I'm asking might seem like a bit much. I want you to be the professor's escort on this mission, under no circumstances are you to attack any aliens you encounter unless you are fired upon first, is that understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" came the chorus of replies from the assembled marines.

"Good," he turned back to Anders. "Good luck professor, I hope you won't need it." He and the admiral stood and watched as the pelican rose up from the bay and travelled to an unpressurized launch bay elsewhere in the ship. He sighed and turned back to the work of installing alliance technology to his aging colony ship.

***

Professor Anders was pressed up against the windows of the _Normandy_ trying to get a glimpse of every ship that passed by. She was muttering under her breath, comparing architecture of the ships to the citadel, forerunner technology, and every other ship that passed by. "Nothing here looks like forerunner technology, not even in the slightest. Of course with only two worlds to look at I'm not quite the expert."

"Ma'am, if you don't mind, I'm trying to fly the ship." Joker seemed greatly annoyed when the professor leaned in front of his console to get a better view of the outside of the ship. To his greater annoyance she didn't even seem to notice his protests. He sighed, "Damn scientists."

The _Normandy_ cruised slowly into dock. When the members of the crew exited along the retractable docking tube, they found ambassador Udina waiting for them. "Still causing trouble I see commander. Finding what appears to be a group of humans, separated from us since before humanity had even landed on the moon, and then not telling the council about this first contact situation. They nearly had my head for this."

"It's good to know the politicians are as thick headed as ever here too." Anders remarked dryly. The ODSTs and Spartans all stood at attention behind Anders and the commander, any thoughts on the matter hidden by their featureless helmets.

"It was on request of Captain Cutter, their leader. He was lost with what is essentially a fleet tender in completely uncharted space, having apparently been fighting against genocidal aliens for the past five years. Can you blame him for not wanting to negotiate with more aliens rather than with other humans?" Sheppard looked at Udina; Anders could see that their working relationship was frosty at best.

"Surely you don't believe that nonsense, how have we never heard of them, how come we have never run into this genocidal race." Udina practically spat out.

"I've rendered that information classified, council eyes only, sir." Sheppard nodded at the ambassador. He hoped the ambassador wouldn't see through his bluff. He had prepared a report to the council, but he didn't really want to tell the ambassador the farfetched story. He would already have a hard enough time explaining his story to the council, even with Liara's help. He would try though.

"We've wasted enough time, the council is waiting. Apparently that weapon of yours has them in quite the uproar; they want to meet your delegation immediately. If you will follow me." Udina turned and headed to the elevator.

As they got off the elevator, one of the marines whistled and said, "Damn, there are a lot of aliens here. None of 'em are shootin at us neither."

A turian looked up irritably at the humans and shook his head, getting back to work.

"If there is no more business to take care of, the council will be waiting," Udina said, barely suppressed frustration in his voice.

Udina, Sheppard, Anders, Liara and Jerome started walking along the Presidium to what looked like a tower along the wall stretching up into the artificial sky overhead. "Amazing," Anders breathed. "It's not nearly as advanced as the shield world we were on, but still simply amazing."

"Damn newcomers, always gawking," A human muttered.

"This is weird, I mean really weird, aliens and humans working together. I don't think it gets weirder than this." One of the ODSTs said to the other.

"Hey man, it beats the hell out of them shooting us." The other ODST replied.

"True that, man, true that." The ODST warily looked at the turian as they passed him on their way to the elevator. "At least they aren't as ugly as the squid faces."

They spent the elevator ride, and the rest of the trip to the citadel tower mostly in silence. It was only punctuated by Anders asking the ambassador questions about the technology of the citadel. Which he replied to in such a manner to show that his patience was running thin.

After some time they arrived at the citadel chambers, Anders and Udina walked up to the stand while the rest stayed behind at attention and waited.

"This is an unprecedented situation we find ourselves in. Contact with a group of humans who have apparently been a space faring race longer than the others have even had air travel," Began the Asari councilor after introductions were made.

"That's if you believe their story, it sounds completely made up, a portal into another dimension," The turian councilor shook his head, "That's impossible."

"Actually, it is merely improbable," The salarian councilor stated. "There have long been theories among my people's greatest scientists that when a hypothetical wormhole is exposed to great enough energy it allows travel not just through space and time, but through multiple dimensions of time." He turned to the human woman, "judging by the reports it would seem their ship exited through such an anomaly. How they got there is uncertain."

"If you had asked, I could tell you," Anders said irritably. "Our FTL drive opened the portal, or to be more accurate, our FTL drive overloading in the middle of an artificial star opened the portal." She smirked at the confused aliens, "Before you ask, no our FTL is nothing like yours. We open holes into slipspace and travel in that alternate dimension to where we are going. We don't break the light barrier, we go around it."

"Artificial star? Were you in a Prothean relic? We haven't encountered anything such as that." The Salarian councilor was looking more and more interested, while the Asari seemed content to wait, and the turian looked impatient.

"Assuming their story is accurate, and not just a trick to conceal the human development of a super weapon," The turian councilor seemed completely unconvinced.

"Superweapon?" Anders seemed puzzled. "If the _Spirit_'s magnetic accelerator cannon is considered a super weapon, well you would be in for a surprise if the covenant ever made it here. Their shields could take three or four shots from a destroyer sized weapon like the one on the _Spirit_."

"It may not be a super weapon where you come from professor, but here such a weapon could turn the tide of any war, it should not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. Which is why we would like to assign a specter to guard the weapon's design from falling into the wrong hands, of course your government is not part of the citadel, and while you are apparently allies with your fellow humans, we would like to be assured of your intentions." The asari councilor said.

"You mean you don't want to see us use our guns against your own fleets. I understand perfectly." Anders smiled as she said this. "Of course I would rather not upset the only 'friendly' aliens we've seen so far. I see no problems in you posting a specter on the UNSC _Spirit of Fire_, or once the captain's request goes through, the SSV _Spirit of Fire_."

Surprise registered on each of the three councilor's faces. Their operatives had not told them the other humans would attempt to join the systems alliance. If they had joined the systems alliance, the councilors wouldn't have even needed to call this meeting, they could have just posted a specter aboard the systems alliance vessel whenever they wanted. To an outsider however the meeting would be seen as more examples of how the humans were gaining favor with the council. In turn, this would draw many of the lesser citadel races, especially those without an embassy on the presidium, to the human cause, strengthening their position.

"I see," the asari councilor continued after her surprise wore off. "Well then, since you are no longer part of a foreign nation, you will of course abide by citadel law."

"Barring any breaks in said law before contact?" Anders asked cautiously.

"Of course, as long as you do not continue such illegal activities," The salarian councilor sounded civil, but all knew it was a warning for them to cease and desist any illegal activities.

"Then this meeting is adjourned," the asari councilor stated as the assembled delegation left.

Udina walked up to Anders. "Well, that went better than expected."

"Did I miss something?" Sheppard asked the ambassador.

Anders turned and replied before Udina could speak. "Yes, you might not be used to politics, but a special emergency meeting of the council in person is a big deal on the citadel apparently."

Udina smiled, "Yes, the fact that humanity can repeatedly call the undivided attention of the council will be seen as proof of our rising prominence on the citadel. The smaller embassies on the citadel will see us as a power player who are more capable of getting their needs seen by the council. If we have the support of the other races who aren't as powerful politically as us, then we can make a strong push towards gaining a council seat."

"So, this whole meeting was a political power play?" Sheppard said to the ambassador.

"Precisely commander," Udina answered, "Now if you will excuse me, I need to get back to the embassy, there is a lot of work I need to do."

The ambassador walked away, Sheppard turned to Anders. "So, what now?"

"I was planning on hitting the local bar, and I'm sure the ODSTs will appreciate a bit of leave after these past few weeks." Anders replied, "As far as what you are going to do, I have no idea."

"A drink sounds good to me professor." Sheppard said with a slight smile.

Anders laughed a little, "Fine, but you are buying, we didn't get much money from the embassy for personal use."

***

"Four ODSTs and a couple Spartans walk into a bar," The ODST lieutenant, Jack Demetrio, said to no one in particular. By popular demand of his troopers they had gone into Chora's den, a gentleman's club in a section of the huge space station called the wards.

"What was that sir?" Jerome asked.

"Nothing Spartan, just a joke, now let's see what kind of alien drinks they have here." The ODSTs had removed their helmets and sat down at the bar stools, two of them were staring up at the dancing girls up above them. The other two were looking over a pair of menus in English. The three Spartans were just standing behind them.

"So, what exactly is good here?" The lieutenant asked.

"You're the guys from that long lost colony aren't you?" The bartender asked the ODST.

"Yeah, I suppose you could say Harvest is long lost couldn't you? We're from the other human delegation yes." The lieutenant looked at the bartender, another human.

"I'll tell you what, you guys can have a round of Nova ale on me." He walked over to the tap and started pouring seven glasses.

"Nova ale?" the ODST looked questioningly at the mug in front of him.

"From Terra nova, one of our colonies; it's pretty good." He picked up a mug from another section of the counter and started cleaning it.

The other three ODSTs downed their drinks quickly, without taking their eyes of the stages all around them. Jack just picked up his mug and sipped it, finding a strong bitter ale in his mug. "That is pretty good."

"Yeah, it's been a real hit with the turians I get in here too; it actually passes through their systems just fine, unlike most things." The bartender smiled a bit.

"Yeah, I guess the life of an alien must suck if they can't eat some good food ever." Demetrio laughed a bit and the bartender joined in.

As the ODSTs were enjoying themselves a group of about five turians walked in and headed straight to where the humans were sitting. "You humans are in our seats," The first one said, their apparent leader.

In response all four ODSTs swiveled in their chairs so they were facing the turians. "Oh yeah, I don't see you name on them split cheeks." One of the marines taunted.

Behind the lieutenant the bartender whispered in his ear, "Easy now, these guys are part of a local gang, they are probably armed."

"You damn humans think you're so tough, think you own the place, how would you feel with a bullet in your gut, huh?" The turian drew his pistol to emphasize the threat.

This was precisely the wrong move to make. Jerome immediately saw the threat, and removed it, by grabbing the turian's forearm and breaking it in half causing the pistol to aim at the floor. The first turian screamed in pain. As the other four were reaching for their guns, having been obviously surprised at the Spartan's attack, the four ODSTs drew their plasma rifles and held them pointed at the turians. The other Spartans had likewise drawn their alliance issue assault rifles.

"I suggest you boys lay down on the ground with your hands behind your head, otherwise I might have to scratch my itchy trigger finger." Jack told them.

By now the rest of the patrons had abruptly scattered at the sight of brandished guns. One of the turians though seemed to want to make an issue out of it. "Or what? You'll shoot us? We have shields, you don't" He laughed and began drawing his pistol. Four shots from the plasma weapons rang out and the four turians dropped to the ground screaming as the plasma burned through their bodies, until they fell silent.

Several C-sec officers ran onto the scene, three humans, two turians and a salarian. "What the hell happened here?" the salarian demanded.

The bartender got up from behind the bar where he had been cowering. "Those turians, they came in trying to pick a fight, one of them pulled a gun on these people here, and they shot them with, those guns…"

"What do you mean those guns?" the salarian demanded.

"I can answer that, these are covenant plasma rifles," Demetrio said as he hefted the weapon. "My men and I were here on leave when these punks came in here and started trying to pick a fight with us, they picked a fight with the wrong guys."

The salarian sighed, "You are those new humans who just arrived, right?"

"Yeah that's us," The lieutenant replied.

"Damn, more paperwork." He shook his head. I'm going to need you to follow me to C-sec headquarters so we can report this to your ambassador.

***

After nearly a week of constant labor, involving the entire crew of the Arcturus shipyards, the _Spirit of Fire_ was ready. The herculean effort was expensive, but deemed necessary for the war effort against the Geth. Intelligence had them massing for another assault against a human colony. Every ship would be needed for the fight.

The _Spirit_'s modifications were not too extensive, as the engineers were limited to adding on new systems rather than replacing them. She was equipped with several small element zero cores taken from damaged frigates and cruisers, along with those from ships farthest away from being completed in the shipyards. The net result after all the cores had been installed was overkill, though the engineers installing them hadn't known it at the time, as they were working off unfamiliar systems and materials. It was nearly as fast a ship now as a heavy cruiser, despite the sheer difference in size, with the Spirit of fire being nearly two kilometers long, bigger than most dreadnaughts, almost as big as sovereign, Saren's flagship.

Its kinetic barriers were only as strong as a more conventional dreadnaught's however. This was an unfortunate design flaw in the multiple mass effect generator design. Only a few could be used to generate shields for the ship. However it was extremely capable at FTL flight, able to stay at FTL speed for nearly as long as the SSV _Normandy_. Its main gun was left mostly untouched as it was powerful enough already, though another spinal gun was added along the top of the vessel, along with several smaller flank guns and a guardian laser system. The original archer missiles were replaced with disruptor torpedoes. A last ditch close range weapon, but one that would easily destroy any wolf pack frigates that tried to close with the _Spirit._

Even without its MAC cannon, the _Spirit_ was more than a match for any other known dreadnaught, even the _destiny ascension._ What was once a hastily retrofitted colony ship, turned into a fleet repair ship, was now the most powerful and versatile ship in the alliance fleet. The marines aboard had received a similar upgrade. Two alliance training camps, and a weapons depot were stripped of weapons and armor for the battle hardened marines aboard the _Spirit_. They now wore body hugging alliance armor under their standard issue ballistic armor. They were also equipped with standard alliance armaments. Unfortunately most of their vehicle complement remained the same; there just weren't enough alliance vehicles around to add to the ship's arsenal.

The _Spirit_ was now the most powerful and versatile ship in the alliance fleet. It could outfight or outrun any opposing dreadnaught, it could deploy an army to the surface of a besieged world far faster than any alliance ship could, and it could refit and repair several frigates and cruisers at the same time, the frigates could even dock inside the huge ship.

Of course Captain Cutter knew his refitted ship would probably get a workout sooner than he would like. The week of downtime had been good for the marines; despite the occasional scuffle with the shipyard's nonhuman workers it had been mostly peaceful, despite the war. No new Geth attacks were reported, which was good news to the captain.

What he didn't like was the council specter they had sent as essentially a political watchdog for him and the alliance as a whole. Luckily he had been told by Hackett, that while the specters were outside the law, they couldn't commandeer alliance vessels whenever they felt like it. That was why he was waiting in his hangar bay. For the council agent to arrive.

He looked up as a strange shuttle floated down into his hangar. That was the word to describe it. It was much less ungainly than his own pelicans; possessing a grace that had him envious of the technology these races used in their everyday lives.

The shuttle touched down and after a few minutes of it powering down, a single asari stepped out. The blue skinned alien walked over to the old captain. The captain was caught off guard by her appearance, she looked almost human.

"Where you expecting someone else captain?" The asari smiled as she approached.

Cutter smiled and reminded himself that this was still an alien. "No, just someone a bit uglier. Most aliens I've seen are uglier than sin." He was still smiling to show he was joking. "Of course they were always going on about how our destruction was the will of the gods. Kind of skews your perception I suppose."

"I'm sure," The asari was a little taken aback at the captain's straightforward manner. She was unused to people being so, honest around specters, normally she had to force information out of people. "My name is Nidara; I am the specter the council sent to keep an eye on things."

"Captain Cutter, of the _Spirit of Fire_," He reached out and shook Nidara's hand.

The specter could tell the captain was a somewhat typical military man; he would appreciate bluntness if nothing else. "Look, I know you don't want me here, hovering about second guessing your decisions."

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one." Cutter remarked dryly.

Nidara smiled, despite the man's bluntness she was starting to like the old captain, honesty was a refreshing change from her normal interactions. "Yes, but I'm allowed to interpret my orders very liberally, so I think it would probably be best if I stayed off to the side in an advisory role, correct?"

Cutter looked thoughtful for a minute; apparently this alien was open to creating a tolerable working relationship. "We'll see, but in the meantime, welcome aboard the _Spirit of Fire_.

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Author's note: to AbyssalDaemon I never stated ranges in the space battle, I remember reading what you said in the codex as I was typing that up. Even at 60,000 km range it would take the Spirit of Fire's gun only ten seconds to hit a target, far too short of time for a dreadnaught to dodge if it didn't expect such a shot to come at it.


	7. Foothold

_**Flashback one week from end of last chapter**_

Douglas and Alice walked over to Jerome. "What do you want Jerome?" Alice asked their leader.

"I've come to the decision to split red team up. There are only three Spartans in this whole galaxy, and we need to make sure we are used to the most benefit. I'm sending you two to the _Spirit of Fire_. The captain has sent me a message; they are planning to use the _Spirit_ to attack Geth staging areas." Jerome paused for a minute to examine his subordinates. Alice looked slightly upset, and Douglas looked the same as he always did. "I want you to be in the spearhead, the marines will probably need you."

"Yes sir," Came the reply.

Jerome continued, "I know you don't like me splitting up the team, but it is necessary if we are going to win with the fewest casualties." Jerome looked between the two. "Alice, you are in charge of red team while I'm with Commander Sheppard. "

"What about Serina sir?" Alice asked her commander.

"The _Spirit of Fire_ might not operate a peak capacity without her, but discovery of an AI by the citadel might cause a political backlash, at least that's what I'm told. She stays with me." Jerome replied. "Spartans, dismissed."

_**End Flashback**_

Captain cutter was in his office, going over reports when his com buzzed for his attention. "This is Cutter, go ahead."

"Admiral Hackett wants to speak with you sir," The com tech said.

"Put him on." Cutter replied.

"Captain, we just got an emergency transmission from our colony Terra Nova. It looks like a major Geth attack. You are the only ship that can reach them in time to avoid a major catastrophe. We're sending over the frigates _El Alamein, River Somme, Coral Sea, _and _Agincourt._ They have instructions to dock with your ship so they can be carried into the battle. This is highly irregular sending a dreadnaught without an escort, but it's all we can do." Hackett sounded worried, "You are in command Cutter, kick the Geth off Terra Nova, no matter what the cost."

"Understood Admiral, we'll be under way as soon as they dock," Cutter replied, anger evident in his voice. It hadn't been very long since the _Spirit_ had been attempting to defend the helpless inhabitants of Arcadia from the covenant. He left for the bridge, leaving his paperwork behind on his desk.

After a few minutes riding the elevator Cutter arrived on the bridge. "Are we ready to go?"

The helmsman looked up from his station, "Aye sir! Alliance frigates docked, we are ready to depart."

"Make best speed for the relay, place all stations on alert." Cutter ordered.

"Aye sir, FTL engaging," the helmsman replied.

The blast shields started to lower over the bridge windows as the massive ship turned and accelerated into FTL speeds. As it did the asari specter entered the bridge. "Captain, what's going on here? This ship isn't scheduled for any maneuvers today."

"The Geth are attacking Terra Nova, we're going to stop them." Cutter replied. "Operations, tell the helljumpers to get ready we're going to need them when we get there, have the Spartans deploy with them. "

"Helljumpers captain?" The asari asked, obviously curious.

"ODSTs, Orbital Drop Shock Troops. We're going to hit them hard and fast." The captain answered.

"Orbital drop? The Salarians experimented with those tactics, but the element zero cores needed were too expensive to put in a disposable vehicle." The specter looked puzzled.

"You may not have noticed, but we've gotten away without element zero for hundreds of years where I come from." The captain smiled at the confused asari

"Of course, it's just that all of our technology is based on element zero, it's strange to see technology that doesn't need it." Nidara shook her head.

"I'm sure, now if you will excuse me, I need to make sure my ship is prepared for battle."

***

Jack Demetrio and his ODSTs were loading their pods with supplies; each one still carried a Covenant plasma rifle in addition to an alliance issue assault rifle and shotgun. They were loading the drop pods with explosives and survival rations. While an ODST was expected to come out fighting, the pods were designed to carry some basic survival gear for when the fighting was done and they were expected to move on. Two of the six pods in their bay stood empty, reminders of the war; they had lost one teammate defending a civilian transport on arcadia, and another to the flood.

That engagement had left him with nightmares, he could still hear private Henkel's screams as his teammates were forced to shoot him as the infection form turned his body into a monster. He shook his head to clear the bad memories. He noticed the bay doors opening and the two Spartans he had met at the citadel entering. He didn't really know what to think of the Spartans, they were certainly welcome on the battlefield, but beyond that they were generally quiet and awkward to be around.

The first one saluted and said, "Sir, we were told to report to this bay for spare drop pods." Her voice was female.

Jack sighed, "Yeah, right there, he jabbed his thumb over at the two empty pods." He looked at the Spartans. Each one had a Spartan laser attached to the magnetic locks on their back. The experimental weapons were rare enough that only Spartans generally ever used them. He would have loved to get his hands on one. "You two here to help my squad?"

"No, we've got our own orders, we are on anti-tank duties, you are welcome to help us once we are on the ground marine."

Jack smiled; fighting alongside a Spartan usually meant you would go straight into the toughest enemy defenses. Of course if the marines on the _Spirit_ were to be believed, fighting with a Spartan meant you had a damn good chance of getting out alive, especially if they went first. "We'll see what happens down there Spartan, but if you need us, we'll be happy to help."

If he could have seen behind her faceplate he would have seen her smile. "I'm sure," was her only reply.

Jack shook his head at the super soldier and turned back to his own squad, they had pulled on the medium armor the alliance had provided them with, sans the helmet and were now busy putting on the standard issue ODST drop armor. He did the same. It was mildly uncomfortable having both suits of armor on at the same time, though the latex like alliance armor made it easier. It was surprisingly comfortable, and actually fit him well. The thing he most appreciated was the kinetic barriers that would activate over his armor. ODST armor could already withstand a bullet, if something got through his new shields it; along with the alliance armor might just save his life.

He and the rest of his squad finished loading their pods and clambered inside, waiting for the drop order.

***

The _Spirit_ dropped out of FTL near Terra Nova, what they found surprised them, there wasn't a single Geth ship waiting to engage them. Cutter turned to the officer manning the sensors. "Where are they lieutenant?"

"Not in space, we're getting a signal from the planet, I'll put it on monitor two," The tech answered and hit a few buttons on his console.

An overhead monitor lit up with the position of a battle camera from an alliance marine, a marine officer was yelling into the camera. "-eth are all over the city, they're landing frigates all over." Static filled the screen for a few moments. "Destroyed X57 as they came in, blew it apart. The _Stalingrad_ was overwhelmed in seconds. Civilians are still inside the city, we can't take out the frigates, we don't have the weapons, and we can't risk hurting the civilians. If you're with the alliance, we need immediate reinforcements." Tracers from Geth weapons flew over the screen followed by a low hum. A blue projectile hit the ground nearby and the screen went to static.

Cutter turned to the ops tech. "Make a pass, deploy the hell jumpers. Have our pelicans follow them down, tell them to load up only gauss hogs, they are the only vehicle with a chance of hurting these Geth tanks." His face hardened with anger. "Get an airbase set up just outside the city. Deploy any hawks and hornets we have left. Tell the shortswords to prepare for sorties."

The com officer looked up from his station, "Sir, the frigates are requesting orders. It looks like they caught that transmission too."

Cutter considered this for a moment, "Those Geth frigates won't be stupid, and they won't come out to engage a dreadnaught in open combat. They also won't leave the protection of civilian hostages and risk us knocking them out. Have the frigates land in two separate locations, he gestured to a holographic map. They will help us clear a landing zone, set up pre-fab bases once they report it as clear."

"Aye sir," The tech replied, then busied himself with sending the orders.

Nidara spoke up from the back of the command center, "Captain, I'm going to head down to the planet. It looks like you'll need all the help you can get."

Cutter didn't even look up from his tactical display, "Be my guest Specter."

***

The HEV jolted as it hit atmosphere. Lieutenant Jack Demetrio had his head knocked into the side of the drop pod. His vision started to go red from the negative Gs as his pod accelerated towards the planet's surface. He fought to keep himself from going under into unconsciousness. He succeeded in time to get hit with the sudden positive Gs as the pod's first stage air brake deployed. He cried out in a wordless cry of pain as the wind was knocked out of him. He thanked god when his final rocket assist landing came to an end and the front hatch blew off the pod. He saw it rebound off a pod that had landed right before him and go spinning off into a storefront.

_Damn, landed right inside the city. _He though to himself. _Can't be helped._ "Squad check in," He hit the com bead in his ear.

"Lima-3 here," "Four, ready and able," "Two here, I've got what feels like a fractured rib, but I'll be fine." The chorus of replies reassured him.

"Alright marines, let's get to work, three, see if you can't locate the nearest friendlies." He barked out the orders as he hefted his rifle and started scanning the area. He noted the Spartan's pods were already empty, their occupants obviously not bothering to wait while the normal humans got ready to fight.

"Lima-3 here, I've managed to raise some people who say they are alliance marines, about two blocks from here, they say they know the area." His com specialist radioed in.

Jack looked around for his squad, lima-2 and lima-4 were nearby but he couldn't see lima-3. "Three what's your position?"

"Uh, I crashed through the roof on the building to your right, I'm still a couple stories up, and I'll be down in five minutes." Three replied.

"Hurry the hell up, we don't have all day," Jack said angrily. He looked over at four, who was cocking his head like he was listening to something. Now that the ringing in his ears from the landing was subsiding he could hear it too, a faint buzzing sound. He held his rifle pointed at the nearby T-intersection. The sound of an explosion rang out and what looked to be some sort of drone, but was now debris crashed into the intersection.

"Lima team, this is red team, be advised enemy has deployed drones, not as deadly as the ones on the shield world." Came a Spartan's voice over the radio.

"Thanks red team, we are heading to a stranded group of alliance marines, will you assist?" Jack asked over the radio.

"Negative, it looks like the Geth are setting up a turret tower deeper in the city. We are going to take it out." The Spartan cut the channel, ending the discussion.

"Great, let's move out marines." Jack shouldered his assault rifle and led his team deeper into the city.

***

Spartan-130 walked along the roof of the building she and Douglas had secured. It had been emptied, gunshots marred the walls. What disturbed her most were the blood smears were someone had dragged the bodies away. A dropped assault rifle told her that alliance marines had been the victims. She looked at her own gun. Some techs aboard the _Spirit_ had stripped a vehicle mounted machine gun down for her to lug around. A replacement to the turret she habitually carried. It was prone to overheating, but it could sweep an enemy off their feet.

Douglas carried an alliance issue heavy weapons rifle. It was essentially a standard assault rifle with an under slung rocket launcher. He carried seven rockets for the weapon. As they neared the edge she set down her heavy weapon and belly crawled along with Douglas to peer over the ledge. She saw several Geth troopers drag the body of an alliance marine over to some sort of stand. After a few seconds a massive metal spike shot up, impaling the body.

"Check the other spikes 130," Douglas said over their helmet com.

She looked and saw the bodies of several other victims, but these seemed to glow with metal parts, they had an unnatural grey corpselike pallor over their skin. "Dragon's teeth," She said. The reports from Eden prime had mentioned these. They turned bodies into reusable, disposable shock troops. "Take them out, use grenades." Douglas' acknowledgement light blinked green and he pulled several grenades from his belt.

He waited until Alice picked up her machine gun before he threw them, one at each body on the dragon's teeth. They exploded, breaking the metal spikes as they did so. Even before they exploded Alice had her machine gun up and firing, burning down all five troopers before they could react. The weapon overheated, and Alice saw two of the troopers start to get back up, having only been knocked over by the impacts. Douglas quickly dispatched them with bursts from his rifle.

Alice looked up and saw a shuttle, the one the asari specter had used to travel to the _Spirit of Fire_, come screaming out of the sky, its entire left side was aflame. She continued watching as it came to an obviously controlled landing, if barely; crashing down the street she had just been looking over. It clipped the building and nearly sent her off the edge.

"Let's see if there are any survivors," Alice stated over the radio. Douglas' light winked on in acknowledgement.

***

Nidara woke in a daze. Her head was spinning. As she pulled herself together she took stock of her surroundings. She was still strapped in by a five point harness in the pilot's seat of her shuttle. She tried to pull up a systems report from the VI interface, nothing. She grimaced. _The power must be dead_. She thought. The asari unstrapped herself and got to her feet, noticing for the first time that the shuttle was tilted. She looked back towards the exit ramp of the shuttle. It had flown open in the crash, thankfully it didn't look like anyone, or anything was outside.

She pulled out her pistol and started over to the open hatch. She paused and stood perfectly still as she heard heavy footfalls from just down the street, at an intersection. She lay down and waited, until the monstrous form of a Geth colossus lumbered into view. _Damn, the Geth just happened to be here, and of course they will look for survivors._ The colossus wasn't alone she noted; several shock troopers were clustered around its legs. _This just gets better and better._

The specter got up and was preparing to run for her life, hoping there was some sort of cover she could use to escape from the war machine, when she noticed something. A thin red beam of light was pointed at the colossus. It looked like some sort of targeting laser. A surge of hope went through her. If someone had heavy weapons they might distract that colossus long enough for her to get into cover, she just hoped the heavy weapon was on some sort of tank, otherwise that group was likely done for.

That hope changed to horror as the colossus turned and began charging its main weapon. It was pointed directly at her. She threw up a biotic barrier even though she knew it probably wouldn't matter.

Just as she was consigning herself to the end a bright red streak impacted the colossus, its head, weapon and all fell to the ground, the body started to collapse shortly afterwards. _Laser weapons, impossible, only ships could support weaponized lasers._ The five shock troopers turned to face the new threat, but even as she watched, one of the human's elite soldiers, a Spartan, appeared on the ledge of the nearby building. The green armored warrior hefted what looked like an antipersonnel turret at the shock troopers. She hadn't seen these soldiers in person, only heard about them during her stay aboard the _Spirit_ but that display of strength was amazing.

The Spartan burned down two of the shock troopers within seconds, and then retreated back behind the ledge for cover when the other three fired their rockets at it. That was when the heavy weapons team made their presence felt again. A rocket sped out from the intersection and blew one of the Shock troopers apart. The Spartan wasn't to be outdone however; it jumped straight off the ledge and landed right on top of one shock trooper. Its shields flared as the second opened fire. It brought up its turret and destroyed that one too.

Nidara took a few cautious steps forward, her pistol out, but not pointed at the Spartan. "What the hell are you?" She questioned the green giant.

"Spartan super soldier ma'am," The soldier was apparently female. She turned as another Spartan turned the corner, a rifle with a rocket attachment resting against its shoulder. "We're Spartan red team; we'll escort you to where Lima squad said there are some marines holding a building in the center of town."

"I can take care of myself," Nidara began.

"Okay, then you fight through the Geth to get to the rendezvous. We'll just leave you alone." The soldier sounded smug.

Nidara smirked a little at the Spartan's humor. "Fine, just get me there quickly."

The Spartan laid out directions for Nidara, and simply told her to move as fast as she could to the destination. She frowned, "What about Geth?"

She could have sworn she heard the super soldier chuckle under her helmet before she replied, "we'll take care of them, you don't need to worry yourself."

Nidara was suspicious of that statement, but began heading off in the direction the Spartans had specified, she was running in a light trot, with her pistol out and ready. All she saw along the way were Geth corpses. Even a Geth prime lay dead in the street, its head blown off by a grenade. She didn't know how these soldiers were so good, but she was suddenly very glad the humans seemed to be loyal allies of the council. If they had more soldiers like these two, the citadel armies wouldn't stand much of a chance.

She finally arrived at a large building. It was pockmarked with craters from where heavy weapons had impacted the structure, but the distinctive muzzles of machine guns poked out of various intact windows.

A voice came out over a loudspeaker, "An asari? What are you doing here?" The voice demanded.

"I'm a citadel specter, I was sent along with the human reinforcements. We came to take back this world." The asari said, lowering her pistol as she noticed several of the machine guns tracking her.

"I'll take all the help I can get; we've got a lot of wounded. Get inside; hurry before the Geth come back." The voice said weariness now evident in its tone.

Nidara ran to the opening doors and ducked inside, finding several alliance marines standing inside, their weapons pointed out the windows. "Where's you leader?" She asked.

"Command post is on the second floor specter," One of the marines said flatly, not looking away from his assigned window.

Nidara walked up the lobby stairs at the back of the building, upstairs she found an alliance marine without his armor on, his right leg ended in a stump; it had obviously been cut off and repaired with medigel. The strange pattern of scarring a dead giveaway.

The man gave a salute, "Gunnery chief Banks, Terra Nova militia, I'm in command of this group, what's left of us anyway."

The specter didn't return the salute. "I'm Nidara, council specter. I was sent here with the reclamation group to take back this colony."

"It's damn good to hear that, they hit us hard. We managed to get a lot of the civilians out into the wilds, but the rest of them…" His voice trailed off. "The bastards are using them as hostages. They aren't killing them and turning them into husks like they did to any militia they captured, they have 'em corralled in buildings underneath their ships at the center of the city."

"We found that out already. The _Spirit of Fire_ is in orbit, they are deploying their army to take back the city." Nidara informed the militia leader.

The militia leader sighed and relaxed, then straightened up as best he could when a civilian carrying a pistol ran into the room.

"More Geth, coming down the street, there's a bunch of big ones this time," The civilian said, sounding panicky.

"Well damn, it looks like you showed up just in time for us to get slaughtered," The gunnery chief said while shaking his head." I'd appreciate any help you can give."

"I'll see what I can do commander, it might not be much though." Nidara turned and headed to the other side of the building where a machine gun nest was set up near a broken window. She looked out across the street and saw a pair of juggernauts advancing along with several normal Geth troopers. The machine gun crews opened up, drawing the juggernaut's attention, the first one fired, hitting a target in an upper story and raining debris down the front of the building.

Nidara saw the second one preparing to fire and sent a biotic shove its way. At this range the telekinetic throw lost some of its strength, but it had the effect of throwing of the monstrous Geth's aim. The Machine gun crews concentrated on the one she had shoved and knocked out its shields, a rocket fired from somewhere else in the building finished it off.

The other one continued to advance, readying another rocket, when all of a sudden a storm of blue fire came at it from further down the street, the juggernaut turned to face the new threat, and as it turned Nidara could see glowing molten holes in the back of the massive machine. The arm holding its gun fell off in a torrent of plasma melted and damaged. The Geth soon followed it to the ground, much of its armor looked melted and slagged. The other troopers were cut down from the militia inside the building, now free of the threat of the juggernaut's rockets.

Nidara looked down the street where a small group of four soldiers carrying strange looking weapons sat huddled behind a wrecked car. Her radio buzzed on the alliance com channel.

"This is Lima squad, looks like you guys could use some help down here," Came the voice.

Chief Banks held a hand to his ear, "Who am I speaking to?"

"Lieutenant Jack Demetrio of the 105th Shock division, 12th brigade," The trooper continued, "Command wants to secure this point as a forward base in the city. Spartans just took out the nearest AA tower, relief pelicans are en route."

"We've got a lot of wounded here lieutenant, we are going to need evac," the chief replied.

"Command says you can ride the pelicans back to our lines, you'll get treatment there," Jack and his squad continued forward until they were in the building. They walked up to where the chief was sitting in his chair. "Another ODST drop is inbound, they'll hold until the reinforcements arrive," He looked at the chief's missing leg. "I suggest you take a break, we'll take it from here."

"Thank you lieutenant, that's good to hear," The chief said, and then he leaned back in his chair, apparently having passed out due to exhaustion.

Nidara walked over to the ODST lieutenant. "How is the battle going?"

Jack looked at the asari with more than a little distrust, but seeing the way the alliance soldiers acted around her, he decided he could trust her. "We're pushing them back. The Spartans have been carving a path through their heavy armor, the marines are behind them, mopping up and securing the city."

He looked back out the window, hearing sonic booms of HEVs entering the atmosphere. He saw several land outside in the street, a few hit buildings at glancing blows. He winced; those marines probably didn't survive impact. "Looks like the cavalry is here."


	8. Discovery

Spartan-042 Shouldered his Spartan laser and checked the charge indicator, _empty_. He sighed and set the empty weapon back on its magnetic holster in between his shoulder blades.

He looked at their targets, a pair of armatures was moving down a smaller side street, nearly ten Geth troopers as their escort. He winked his acknowledgement light, yellow twice, to signal he was out of heavy weaponry. All he had left was an assault rifle. He looked at 130's acknowledgement light and saw it wink yellow twice as well. He hefted the assault rifle and sighted down at the first Geth Trooper. He didn't fire yet; Alice's light was a steady red, indicating he should wait.

When Alice's light changed to green he fired a long burst. The Geth trooper looked up to where he was before its shields collapsed and it fell riddled with holes. The others all opened fire, quickly dropping his shields. He ducked back and stepped a few paces back from the edge of the building. Even as he did so, a siege pulse from the nearest armature knocked a huge crater in the side of the building; he had backed up just far enough to remain in cover away from the troopers. The group seemed to think they were dealing with more normal alliance marines. He heard the sounds of regular mechanical footsteps climbing the stairs of the four story building.

He quickly walked down the stairs off the roof. Douglas found himself in what appeared to be a hastily abandoned office complex. Cubicles filled the entire floor. He ripped a refrigerator off of its stand in the center of the room and held it with two hands as he approached the stairwell he heard the Geth footsteps coming from. From the footsteps he counted nine Geth, _all of them, where is Alice?_

Almost as soon as he got to the threshold he saw the first pair of troopers round the corner weapons at the ready. He heaved the refrigerator at the approaching Geth, bowling them over. Unfortunately they were well spaced enough to keep the first pair from hitting the second. As he used his rifle to finish off the two troopers he heard the remaining seven slow down then take up positions at the bottom of the stairs. _Looks like fun_.

***

Alice walked slowly and carefully down the stairs of her building, across the street from Douglas. She was hoping that Douglas would attract the troopers so she could deal with the armatures without problems. Both of the tank like walkers were still staring up towards the building Douglas was inside, _easy prey_. She crept out of the door of the shop she was in, apparently some sort of bakery judging by the crusty days old bread still in its display case. The armature closest to her didn't notice as she slipped in through its kinetic barrier and stood underneath the machine. After a few seconds of thought she pulled her last pair of grenades from her waist and punched each fist straight up through its underside. She released her grenades inside the armature's bowels and rant straight to the other one. A few hits from the Geth construct's machine guns dropped her shields, but she managed to get to the relative safety of the other armature's kinetic barriers.

Alice pressed the detonator and saw the armature blow apart, its front legs falling off and the rest of it toppling and losing power, dead. She rolled out of the way as the second armature's leg came down right where she was standing. It was trying to turn around and bring weapons to bear against the Spartan. She grabbed the edge of its body and pulled herself onto its back. She had heard from Jerome that this was a blind spot. The armature wasn't flexible enough to turn around and target her; 092 had been right, they seemed to be built as siege weapons, not to fight a mobile mechanized war against a modern army.

She quickly took advantage of this, using her superhuman strength to rip off both of the ungainly weapons platform's weapons. It being defenseless she broke all four of the servos going to its legs then marked the crippled Geth tank for later pickup and inspection.

"042, are you done in there?" She keyed her com. A single green flash gave her an affirmative answer. She pulled out her shotgun as Douglas walked out onto street level. The crippled armature seemed to glare balefully at the other Spartan, unable to do anything. "These Geth are pretty damn useless aren't they?" She looked right into the damaged armature's eye, "Can't even handle a few Spartans."

***

Jack and his team walked out of the fortified office building, the newly arrived ODSTs had mostly taken over for the alliance marines in their positions. Nidara was following the four ODSTs close behind as several shuttlecraft flew overhead. She looked at the ungainly looking craft and shook her head. That anyone would trust their life to such a primitive craft was anathema to her.

The pelicans came in low and landed all around the office building. Marines started piling out; some of them carried heavy weapons, or the parts to them. Others clambered aboard the warthogs their pelicans dropped off.

A marine ran up to the small squad, "Special delivery, and orders from command. Your squad is to conduct reconnaissance in force against Geth concentrations so we can call in the heavy hitters." The marine grinned, "No rest for the wicked eh LT? Your 'hogs are over near someplace called Tamworth Street."

Jack glared at the marine, and the soldier smirked then ran off to continue dispersing orders. "Alright Lima, you heard the orders, let's get moving." All four of them picked up packs from one of the pelicans, all full of supplies such as food and water, and then they started walking to where the warthogs they were assigned were parked. The asari was following them. He turned to the alien, "Can I help you with something?"

The specter looked at the ODST with an expectant expression, "Do you mind if I join your squad temporarily lieutenant? I would like to help."

Jack sighed; behind his helmet was a look of exasperation. He knew they were trying to improve relations with the citadel, but he still didn't know if he could trust this alien. "You can tag along with us if you want, but only if you don't try and order my squad around. We are a team; I don't want you compromising that."

Nidara nodded and followed the ODSTs to where a pair of vehicles waited; they were nothing like the new alliance M35 Mako that she had familiarized herself with. These looked more ramshackle, less armored, and overall less capable. "These things are warthogs?" She asked.

"If you don't like our rides you can walk you know," Jack said defensively. "Marines mount up!"

Lima-3 and Lima-4 climbed into the furthest warthog, one on the wheel, and the other on the turret. Lima-2 climbed up into the back of the other hog's turret. Jack got in behind the wheel and the asari specter sat down in the side seat. "You forgot to call shotgun," He said offhandedly as Nidara sat down in the seat next to him.

"What are you talking about? I don't have a shotgun," The asari said, confused. To add to her confusion Jack only laughed and mashed on the accelerator, sending the little vehicle down the highway at what felt like an insane speed.

***

Saren, rogue specter did not like surprises. He had expected the Geth attack on Terra Nova to draw that damnable human specter, Sheppard from his hunt. Instead he only succeeded in drawing a massive human dreadnaught, one nearly as big as Sovereign, to the planet. This disturbed him more than it did Sovereign. The reaper didn't seem to care about a ship; it was more than confident that its abilities would easily overcome the new ship. Saren however saw it as a sign that the humans would be much more of a threat than his Geth seemed to think they would be. He had already ordered the majority of the Geth fleet away from offensive operations. He knew he would need them for his plan to assault the citadel and enable Sovereign to finally take control of the station.

Saren turned to the right from his command chair aboard Sovereign. "What is it this time?" One of Benezia's commandos stood to the right of him.

"The Geth have sent a report from Terra Nova. They say the newcomers have destroyed almost all of their troops in the city. Only the areas around their ships are still in their hands." The commando sounded calm and collected, she was obviously under the full sway of indoctrination; she barely had any emotions left at all.

"How? There were dozens of ships, all full of Geth, how could they not hold onto the city?" Saren demanded.

"Apparently, the dreadnaught carried a small army aboard, the Geth don't have the numbers or the firepower to break through any of their defenses, and they have no such problems. We have identified a pair of soldiers who are apparently spearheading their assault. Nothing has been able to kill them" The asari stated, calm and collected.

"Are you telling me that a pair of humans are capable of defeating an army of Geth?" Saren asked incredulous.

In response the commando held out a small screen in front of the ex-specter. It showed the perspective of a Geth destroyer, apparently charging at a green armored soldier. As the robot pulled back to deliver a massive punch with its enhanced artificial musculature the soldier reached out and grabbed the Geth's arm. Redirecting the things momentum into a wall, where it crashed and slowly pulled itself back out. The armored figure, nearly as tall as the destroyer, was waiting for it. The thing punched its fist through the destroyer's chest and lifted it up, then threw it out of a storefront into the street where the synthetic finally powered down, damaged beyond functionality.

Saren's cheek flanges fell open in surprise. "This is a problem."

***

"On the left!" Jack shouted as the tough little vehicle barreled down the highway. A group of Geth snipers were taking up position on the low hill to their left. Lima-2 and Lima-4 turned their turrets towards the threat, sending several 25mm rounds at hypersonic speeds into the troopers. They blew apart as the heavy projectiles smashed through their shields.

They were getting close. The Geth frigates were now clearly visible over the tops of the central skyscrapers. Which was their destination. They had to break the stalemate. If they could find where the Geth had hostages, they could take out the Geth ships with a low level strike. Whereas the Geth couldn't start killing hostages without both alerting the alliance to where they were and risking the alliance seeking revenge rather than safety for the trapped citizens.

"There, that building looks like a parking garage like on earth," Lima-3 said over the radio. "Maybe we can get close enough for an IR read on one of the buildings."

"Agreed, make for the parking garage Lima," Jack ordered.

The light anti-armor vehicles drove up the ramps of the parking garage until they were two levels below the roof level. "Alright, dismount break out the equipment."

The other members of his squad were picking up bags of parts for a sensitive IR telescope, designed as part of the prefab bases the _Spirit of Fire_ was equipped with. They detected warm bodies and vehicles within their range. They were also highly portable, which was why Lima squad had one. In order to try and determine which skyscrapers held hostages so they could move in quickly and rescue them.

"What do you have three?" Jack turned to the trooper.

"I'm not sure, it looks like there are plenty of warm bodies in the skyscraper, but they are all lying down, they aren't huddled like you would expect hostages to be," Lima-3 replied.

"Let me see," Jack walked over and looked at the screen then back at the building. He did this several times. "No… they couldn't have…"

"What is it lieutenant?" Nidara asked the ODST.

"Look at this, please tell me I'm wrong, but all those bodies look like they are lying down, on the ceiling." Jack showed the screen to the specter, "I think there aren't any hostages, it looks like they are all husks."

***

"Reports coming in from our scouting parties. It looks like there weren't any hostages sir. The Geth have killed them all, turned them into those cybernetic zombies they use." The com tech said in a somber voice.

"How many were still in the city?" Cutter turned to the tech.

"Nearly five hundred thousand," The tech's voice gave out a little.

Cutter's face was filled with anger, but his voice didn't betray even the smallest bit of it. "Order all hawks and vultures to deploy, have them group up with the frigates. Wipe those bastards out of the city."

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AN: Sorry for the long wait for the update, moving back into school and hanging out with old friends gets in the way of writing. Thanks for all the reviews


	9. Eviction

Jack drove his warthog in to the side of a group of scorpion tanks, taking up escort position. The unshielded vehicles were very vulnerable to even Geth small arms fire. The occupants were well protected with their kinetic barriers, but it enough small arms fire hit the tank's ammo it could easily blow apart. The warthog's tough construction and non-explosive ammo meant they could withstand some fire. Though many of the convoy's vehicles would need some serious repair, most of them had small holes in their engines from enemy small arms.

The distinctive sound of a Geth siege machine was heard further up in the convoy. As he strained to look he saw a siege pulse hit a scorpion blowing it apart. Several others and their warthog escort returned fire. However more and more siege pulses flew out from side streets. "Ambush!" someone yelled over the radio from somewhere else in the convoy.

"_Spirit of Fire_, this is convoy two we've run into an ambush, we need support!" Jack heard Lima-3 yell into his headset. Further down the road several Geth colossi were lumbering into the street, they were supported by multiple juggernauts and armatures. The convoy had just exited from a bridge; there was nowhere to run and nowhere to maneuver. The Geth had picked their ambush well.

He maneuvered the warthog around an exploding tank and managed to keep an enemy juggernaut from drawing a bead on the little vehicle, but there was so little room to maneuver it was only a matter of time before his vehicle was destroyed. He was about to order his squad to disembark when he heard a welcome sound.

A flight of five hornets led by one of the limited production hawks came soaring overhead. They fired several volleys of rockets at the approaching Geth. The juggernauts were much weaker than their four legged counterparts and were quickly blown apart by the swarm of rockets. The hawk fired its laser weapon at one colossus. It fell apart as the high power laser went straight through its shield and blew apart its main body.

The others quickly targeted the air threat. Though fast and nimble the aircraft were unshielded, three of them fell to the secondary machine guns of the colossi. To Jack's dismay he saw that one of them was the hawk. The other three broke off from their attack and sped away. He could still see at least four colossi down the highway, now turning back to attack the convoy again.

"Get out of the vehicles, we're sitting ducks here!" Jack yelled. His squad bailed out and ran to the nearest wreckage, hoping it would offer some protection from the enemy heavy weapons. Nidara was not far behind, her pistol out, for what good it would do. That was when they heard a rumbling, it was low at first, then grew into a high pitched whine. Three dark shadows passed overhead. As they passed dozens of artillery missiles flew straight at the Geth machines. Each missile flickered with the field of a disruption warhead, designed to pass through kinetic barriers.

The Geth colossi never stood a chance. Several missiles impacted each four legged walker. They blew apart, scattering limbs in all directions. Lima squad and the survivors of convoy two cheered as a pair of vultures flew overhead. The two lumbering aircraft scanned the highway for a few moments before they pulled up and rejoined the frigate _Coral Sea_. The heavy weapons platforms were nearly a quarter the size of the alliance ship they were escorting. However, the gunships were designed for ground support roles, enabling them to punch through most targets the Geth offered with ease. Especially since the Geth air batteries had been wiped out by the larger frigate's guardian suite. The only thing left in Geth hands were the frigates. However neither side dared enter into guardian weapon range; the alliance frigates were fewer in number, but they had more comprehensive weapons systems. Geth frigates were designed to transport troops more so than the traditional frigate was made to. Any fight would be pyrrhic for the victor.

The Geth seemed to sense their defeat. Convoys apparently carrying laser weapons were getting close to them on the ground. Frigates and gunships filled with disruptor weapons were approaching from the air. As one the frigates turned up and headed out into the atmosphere, outrunning the alliance frigates as they tried to intercept.

"Damn it! The cowards are running!" Jack screamed at the quickly retreating Geth frigates.

"We won, why are you so upset?" Nidara looked at the human, not quite understanding the human's emotions.

"I wouldn't expect an alien to understand," He didn't even look at the asari. "It's not about winning it's about all the people who…" He broke off midsentence laughing at some unheard joke.

"What is it?" the asari was even more puzzled than before.

"The captain's coming to kick their ass." Jack smiled and pointed. In front of the retreating Geth ships the outline of the _Spirit_ was clearly visible, approaching in atmosphere. The Geth kept heading towards the dreadnaught, obviously hoping to fight past the massive vessel.

As they approached they started to fire their guardian lasers. The _Spirit_ was capable of taking hits from covenant point defense guns. They did little more than blow apart surface weapons, small mass drivers, missile launchers and point defense guns. It was little more than a few pinpricks to the dreadnaught. In response hundreds of disruptor torpedoes flew from the _Spirit_'s archer missile pods. The sheer numbers were impossible to stop. The Geth ships were blown apart as they soared upwards. Even as the parts fell they were blown apart by fire from the _Spirit_ minimizing the damage to the city.

"That'll teach them robot bastards to mess with the core!" Jack yelled.

***

The _Normandy_ approached a small blue white world in the horse head nebula. The world was known as Noveria. A corporate research world well outside the reach of citadel law, it had a reputation as a world full of dark corporate secrets.

Which was exactly what worried Commander Sheppard, if the Geth were interested in Noveria, it couldn't be for anything beneficial to the alliance. Especially if Benezia was involved in some way. Benezia appeared to be Saren's right hand. Sent where he and his dreadnaught could not travel.

He was interrupted from his reverie by Liara, "Commander, if Benezia is here, I would like to speak with her. I know you might not trust me, but I want to know why my mother has betrayed all she believed in."

Sheppard considered for a moment, Liara had been very helpful, especially where the Spartan was concerned. He still had problems considering the super soldier as human. However, after experiencing an Asari meld himself, he believed both of their stories. Not that he would be able to convince anyone else as to why he believed them.

"I trust you Liara, at least enough to know you won't work with Saren against us," Sheppard finally said. He looked around; the other members of his 'squad' were sitting in the com room, except for the Spartan, who stood at the door.

"If we can even get there. Did you hear their traffic control? They really don't like a council specter arriving, I think they are hiding something," Ashley cut in.

"Of course they are hiding something, this is a planet colonized for the sole purpose of illegal or questionable research. It's only one specific thing they are hiding that should matter." Wrex retorted.

"Whatever we do down there, they aren't going to like it in one way or another," Garrus added.

"We'll find Benezia, and stop her. It's what we came here to do, even if I have to go in guns blazing," Sheppard said this with a wary smile, showing his squad that he was joking.

"And if it does come to that?" Jerome said quietly.

Sheppard sighed and shook his head, "Then we will have to do it. There are too many lives at stake because of Saren and the Geth."

"Sir, we've docked at port Hanshan," Joker announced over the com.

"Good, Wrex, Liara, Jerome, you are with me," Sheppard stood up and went to retrieve his armor and weapons, the others did the same.

***

Nidara looked over at Jack as the pelican accelerated into the upper atmosphere. He had been completely quiet since they had left the city, just staring at the empty seat across from him. She didn't know how humans dealt with the loss of so many. She had a hard time accepting that five hundred thousand people had just died. Nidara thought her specter training would have helped, in an early mission; she had to kill an innocent turian business man simply because the man had seen her. His shocked expression still haunted her nightmares.

This however, was completely different. She hadn't killed them; she hadn't even been close to saving them. Sure, they were humans, but they were still people. Hundreds of thousands had died in that city. It wasn't just one man, whose family would grieve for and move on eventually; it was hundreds of thousands of families, and any survivors that escaped, scarred forever by the atrocity committed in their city. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Jack, a human, thought about all of his fellows dying.

"You would think it wouldn't get easier, but it does," Jack said softly.

Nidara barely heard him, and turned to look at the ODST lieutenant, wondering why he had just said that.

"Eridanus-II, Arcadia, Harvest, Biko. I wasn't at many of them, but the reports, millions dead, the fleet unable to stop the enemy. Dozens of vessels lost with all hands in victory, utter annihilation of entire planets in defeat. After a while, hearing about the deaths of another million or two innocent civilians, just doesn't affect you anymore." Jack was talking without looking at the specter. "It sickens me to say it, but I just see them as numbers, even when they are people I've fought with for years."

"I don't…" Nidara began.

"You looked upset, at least you still feel that way," Jack closed his eyes and settled back into his seat, ending the conversation.

Nidara was troubled by what she had heard. This side of Jack she had never seen before, for the little time she had known him he had been confident and aggressive, not this quiet recluse she was sitting next to.

"Don't worry, he always gets like that after a mission, he'll come around by the time we get back to the _Spirit_," Lima-2 said helpfully.

"How long has he been like this?" Nidara asked.

"Ever since we joined his squad when the _Spirit_ was assigned to investigate harvest," He answered. "He's always been this way as long as even the veterans have known him."

Nidara didn't answer as the pelican came in to land aboard the _Spirit of Fire_. As they settled down the ramp lowered. She left for her assigned quarters; this side trip had been informative. She had to inform the council; after all, that was her job.

It seemed as soon as she sat down the com in her quarters started to flash. She turned and pressed a button, "Go ahead."

"Ma'am, the council is trying to get a hold of you," Came the voice on the other side of the line.

"I'll be there in a minute," Nidara replied as she left her quarters.

Nidara eventually made her way to the FTL com room of the _Spirit of Fire_. It appeared to have been some other room before it was retrofitted; she couldn't guess what. Three UNSC holographic pedestals were at the other end. Each was a glowing circle on top of a round stand. They were extremely different from the holographic consoles used by the citadel; however the techs who were still working on the three pedestals assured him that the technologies were basically compatible.

"There, that should do it," The man stood up, he was dressed in a lab coat and he had an alliance insignia on his shoulder, the others were obviously mechanics and wore UNSC jumpsuits.

"Can you leave the room? This is a council meeting," Nidara looked at the scientist, who was obviously waiting to see if it worked.

He sighed, "I guess I'll be going now."

She watched him leave and went to hit a somewhat jury rigged switch in the center of the room. Three blue figures appeared on their pedestals, each one was only about two feet tall. However, they were easily recognized as the council members. Nidara felt good to see the three politicians reduced so much in stature.

"News of the human's victory over the Geth is pleasing to say the least. It is good to know the humans are capable allies of the council." The asari councilor began.

"Yes, but I wonder if they would be so quick to send a vessel to help if one of our colonies was in need of assistance," The turian did not seem pleased at the report, he still held the humans in low esteem it seemed.

"Now is not the time to discuss such matters," the salarian cut in quickly. "What do you think of the human's newfound brothers?"

"They are extremely skilled, and have seen a great deal of war. War of the kind not seen since the rachni wars so many years ago. I would definitely say their story is at least partly true, and personally, I believe that all of what they say is true, though I have no evidence of the fact." Nidara replied.

"What evidence do you have that they have seen species destroying war?" The salarian asked.

"The way their veterans react, over five hundred thousand people died on Terra Nova, and yet they barely seemed to notice the loss. Every soldier I had talked to seemed to think this was how war always ended, as if this was actually a victory despite the tremendous loss of life." Nidara looked at the assembled councilors, "They behave exactly as the war veterans I remember from my youth do, the ones who witnessed the deaths of thousands at the hands of Krogan."

"You base your facts on the emotions you see in these humans? Preposterous." The turian scoffed.

"Councilor, Nidara has proven time and time again to perfectly read the emotions of her targets, whether in a hostage situation or a diplomatic one. If she feels these humans are telling the truth, then we should believe her," The asari councilor looked at the turian as she said this.

The turian didn't look convinced, but held his peace.

"Do you believe these humans are a threat to the council?" The asari turned back to the specter.

"No councilors, I feel that as long as we are loyal to humanity, they will return the favor in force. The Geth situation is the only thing straining our relationship at the moment. I can tell that the alliance soldiers feel like we are leaving them on their own without any support." Nidara answered the councilor.

"You know as well as we do that the intervention of any council fleet could trigger a war with the terminus systems, which would have catastrophic consequences for every race in citadel space." The turian spoke up again, anger in his voice.

"I'm not talking about a fleet councilor, the Geth are not just following Saren's quest for whatever he is looking for, real or imagined. They are fighting a concentrated campaign against human colonies, taking hostages and killing thousands of civilians. The humans see the council's lack of intervention as a lack of care for humanity as a member state." Nidara explained to the council, "You do not need to send a fleet large enough to defeat the Geth in order to convince humanity that the council cares about them."

"What are you suggesting?" The salarian asked.

"All that would be needed would be a small force of ships and troops to help the alliance. To make it seem like you are helping without doing a lot." Nidara smiled, "Even the appearance of help would quiet most of the complaints from humanity about the council, and it would cement them as trustworthy allies."

"You do have a point; the Terminus would be unlikely to see a small citadel task force as a major threat. They would be unlikely to ally together to fight us. Besides, we do not wish to estrange the humans as allies." The asari councilor answered, and then she turned to her two companions, "Are we agreed then?"

"Yes, a small task force," The turian emphasized the word small.

"We will work out the details, and send the task force to Arcturus, until next time specter," The salarian replied, and then cut the channel.

Nidara smiled to herself. She did trust the human's story, but she still didn't really trust them not to turn their backs on the council. Hopefully, when the crew of the _Spirit_ looked at the recording they had probably taken, they would begin to trust _her_. Then hopefully she could turn that trust towards the council, making sure the human's powerful ships and weapons would stay on the council's side in the future. She felt much more relaxed as she made her way back to her quarters.

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Author's notes:

New World Man – As far as the chief coming into the story, maybe, I don't know. If anything else comes through to the mass effect universe, it will probably be in a sequel set in between the events of mass effect and what will probably be very AU events of mass effect 2.

Rickrolled – In the canon universe of halo, the UNSC never really mastered covenant technology for something like twenty+ years, with the exception of jackal energy shields, and maybe the Spartan laser. The alliance and the citadel might have better luck, but it would still likely take a decade or more before they can really mass produce anything useful.

EvilSpanker – Sort of, it's more of an AU earth than anything, but I was going to explain more later on in the story. The Halo humans are in their year 2530 or so, while the mass effect humans are 2183. That's all I'll say for now

general MB – I realize these are canon mistakes, but I felt like going AU with halo wars as a source for the story.

Shadow Broker – In game master throw is something like 1250 Newtons of force, that is really not a lot, especially against a 1000 lb Spartan running full tilt towards the enemy. As far as breaking the Krogan's spine goes, he obviously didn't have enough plot armor :)

In the space battles The dreadnaught was well out of range of the other vessels, and most of the fleet, including the carriers were gone at the time. There wouldn't have been enough fighters to break through the combined Guardians defenses of the Geth fleet.

I appreciate the reviews, please keep them up!


	10. Ice and Icebreakers

The hatch of the Normandy opened into freezing air. Sheppard felt the shock even through his hard suit. The heaters in his suit kicked in to compensate. They worked, for a while; he knew from experience that after too long in the deadly cold the heaters wouldn't do much at all. Luckily they were in the hangar were the _Normandy_ was docked. Port Hanshan made enough money to justify some limited heating of the space. His squad wasn't in danger of freezing inside their hard suits anytime soon.

He looked over at his squad, Liara looked extremely cold, she had her helmet on and the faceplate active, to keep the heat in, yet she was still shivering. Wrex looked to be enjoying the cold, not that that ever bothered his race. Jerome looked almost the same, he was looking over the area, as if expecting and attack. Then again, the Spartan almost always looked that way.

"Come on, we've got a job to do people," Sheppard said and started walking towards the hangar exit.

The four squad members approached a security checkpoint. A couple humans and a turian were waiting, two security drones floated overhead. One of the humans, who had black hair and a slight Asian cast to her features, stepped forward. "Hold on, I'm going to need to see some identification before I let you pass."

"Commander Sheppard, I'm a Citadel Specter," Sheppard replied, not expecting trouble.

"Load of horse crap ma'am," The other human said angrily.

"We will need to confirm that, in the mean time weapons are not allowed in port Hanshan. Sergeant Stirling, secure their weapons," The first human looked to the second.

As the sergeant stepped forward, all four members of the squad reacted. Sheppard pulled a pistol, Wrex brought his shotgun up, Liara threw up a biotic barrier, and pulled her arm back in preparation for a biotic throw, Jerome pulled both of his pistols, and had them both aimed at Stirling, who now had her weapon out.

"We aren't giving up our weapons," Sheppard stated coolly.

The captain stood still, extremely composed, while the turian and the sergeant both had their weapons out and pointed at the squad. "We are authorized to use lethal force, if you do not surrender your weapons on the count of three, we will be forced to open fire," No one seemed willing to put down their guns. "One… two…"

"Captain Matsuo stand down!" A voice cut in over the PA system. "We've confirmed their identities; Specters are authorized to carry weapons on Noveria."

The security captain seemed to visibly relax, and the other two guards put their weapons away, Stirling a lot slower than the turian. "Parasini-san will meet you up the stairs," Matsuo said tersely.

Sheppard nodded and led his squad through the entrance and up some stairs around a fountain. The heating inside was a welcome relief as he ascended the stairs. At the top was a pair of scanner drones. They promptly went off as the squad stepped through their scanning field.

"Weapons detectors don't mind the alarms," A female voice came from behind a reception desk. A woman wearing a bright pink dress stepped out from a hallway connecting the reception desk to further in the building, obviously for service personnel. "I am Gianna Parasini, assistant to administrator Anoleis. What can I do for you?"

"Have you seen an asari matriarch pass through here?" Sheppard enquired.

"Yes, lady Benezia passed through here about a day ago, on her way to the peak 15 research facility," Gianna looked a little confused.

"I need to see her immediately," Sheppard stated simply.

"You will need to ask the administrator for clearance to leave the port. His office is down stairs, you will find an elevator around the stairs behind you," The secretary said politely.

"Thank you, that will be all," Sheppard returned and headed to the stairs, his squad in tow.

Liara spoke up once they were on the elevator, "The sooner we are off this frozen world the better."

Jerome had to agree with her. The cold didn't bother him, but the hostile greeting they had received did. He didn't have any qualms about killing the covenant, but killing fellow humans always bothered him, even before the covenant had come.

The rest of the elevator ride was spent in silence. The doors opened at the bottom to reveal a large open plaza. It was sparsely decorated with small plants and fountains; the most impressive feature was a massive windowed ceiling that showed billowing snow as a blizzard raged outside.

"Strange taste in decoration," Jerome remarked.

"It's all a cover for the political back deals that happen here, this place is full of secrets." Wrex replied.

The rest of the trip to the administrator's office was spent in silence. As they entered they were greeted by Gianna again. "I'm here to see the administrator," Sheppard said, starting to get exasperated.

"Yes of course," Gianna hit a button on her desk, "Administrator Anoleis?"

"Yes? What? What?" Came the reply, sounding a lot like a child caught doing something he wasn't supposed to.

"Commander Sheppard here to see you," the secretary said, still calm and collected.

"Yes, send him in," The administrator seemed annoyed even through the small intercom.

"The administrator will see you now," Gianna waved to a door behind her desk.

The squad walked into the office to see a salarian busying himself in the holographic displays on his desk.

"What is it? I'm a very busy man, and I have no time to entertain people from that overgrown mud ball you call a home planet." The salarian didn't even meet their eyes as he said this, instead concentrating on whatever he was working on.

Sheppard didn't rise to the insult, "Whatever, I just need to get to peak 15, to talk to matriarch Benezia, it's a matter of galactic security."

"I will only cooperate as required by the executive board. You will not be allowed to harass our clients. They pay well for the security here on Noveria. Not that it matters, there is a blizzard in the area, shuttles have been grounded and surface access has been cut off." Anoleis sounded greatly annoyed at the specter.

"Surface access you say?" Sheppard asked.

"Cut off I said, don't make an issue of this Sheppard." Anoleis cut him off.

Liara spoke up from behind him, "If the administrator will not help us, there must be someone else who will."

Sheppard nodded and turned back to the administrator; who was pretending not to have heard the asari's comment, "I have no further questions at this time."

"Good, I received fifteen urgent messages while you dithered about," The administrator said in reply, not bothering to look up from his desk.

"Let's go," Sheppard said to the squad.

As they passed the secretary, she whispered to them, "The administrator is not the only one with clearance to leave port Hanshan."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow at the secretary, showing he was interested.

"You haven't been in the corporate world very long have you commander? You can't bludgeon your way to get what you want." The secretary said in barely above a whisper.

"I can bludgeon pretty hard," Sheppard said sarcastically.

"Talk to Lorik Qui'in, he should be at the hotel bar, I can't say more, not within earshot of Anoleis." She whispered confidentially.

The squad turned and left for the hotel. On the way Jerome noted the sheer number of alien species, all of them working side by side with humans. It was odd to say the least. He supposed that with a first contact that didn't involve the deaths of millions, it was much easier to accept alien races. Soon they had arrived at the hotel bar.

"Who do you suppose this Lorik Qui'in is?" Sheppard asked the squad.

Jerome scanned the room, taking careful note of the occupants, an asari stood in the corner, looking surreptitiously at a human who stood at the main bar. There were various others scattered around the bar, which was surprisingly open and well lit. Finally his gaze came to rest on a turian sitting by himself, apparently trying to drink away some sort of misery. He tapped the side of his helmet, zooming in on the turian, and read his name tag, 'Lorik Qui'in'.

"There commander, the turian sitting by himself," Jerome said to the commander in a low voice.

"You sure?" Sheppard asks back.

Jerome looks at the commander, who only sees his own reflection in the golden visor.

"Right," Sheppard looks back at the turian and walks up to him. "Lorik Qui'in I presume?"

"Ah, commander, sit down, have a drink," The turian sounded jovial.

Sheppard waved him off, "I'm looking for a way to get to peak 15,"

"Then you will need a garage pass, how fortuitous, I happen to have one," The turian seemed to smile, though Sheppard couldn't quite tell. "Perhaps if you were to render me some assistance in a personal matter I would be inclined to give you my pass."

Sheppard sighed, "Do continue."

"The administrator is an interesting man; he has become quite wealthy since he took direct control of rents." The turian said calmly.

"How exactly does this help with me getting a garage pass?" Sheppard asked, starting to sound annoyed.

"Anoleis has several thugs ransacking my office, he claims to be investigating reports of my corruption." The turian continued, "I have evidence of Anoleis' corruption on my personal computer, if you were to retrieve this information I would make my pass available to you."

"I'll see you after I retrieve this information then," Sheppard turned to his squad and started walking back to the elevator.

"Try not to leave blood stains on the carpet would you?" Qui'in called from behind them.

***

Nidara stood on the bridge of the _Spirit of Fire_ behind captain cutter. The ship was still orbiting Terra Nova, waiting for the promised citadel reinforcements. The alliance had already sent a pair of cruisers and a frigate flotilla, along with a relief freighter to help the homeless refugees on the planet's surface.

"That was a neat trick you pulled with the council," Cutter said while turning to the asari specter.

Nidara noted he didn't bother to pretend he had not listened in on her report to the council.

"At least you got us something, if we run into something like this again, I'll be happy for any help at all, even if the council doesn't want to give us anything at all." Cutter smiled, "I'm grateful, though I have to wonder what sort of command issues we will have when they arrive. For some reason, I don't think they will want to take orders from an alliance officer"

"Most likely not, which could pose some severe problems," Nidara answered the captain. "Hopefully they will see reason, and agree to follow orders at some level. Joint commands are never easy."

"Our history tells me the same thing," He cut off and looked up at a display, "It seems they have arrived, friendly signals picked up coming in at FTL speeds. Huh, there are more than I expected."

Nidara looked at the screen as the signals transitioned to standard space flight. It appeared to be a multi-species task force. A turian cruiser and a light troop transport, and three asari frigates. Not much more than a standard patrol.

"A troop transport? Sounds like the turians may be trying to teach their soldiers how to fight the Geth. Apparently not everyone thinks this is humanities problem after all." Cutter sat down in his chair, "I suppose we should invite them to the _Spirit_ so we can get these command issues out of the way."

"Getting it out of the way instead of waiting for it to appear in battle would be preferable." Nidara agreed, "I just hope they are willing to cooperate."

***

After nearly an hour, a meeting was set up, two shuttles landed in the _Spirit_'s bay. One came from the turian cruiser, another from one of the asari frigates. Nidara sat in a conference room with captain Cutter and the captains of the four alliance frigates, it was a curious design, a large round table, and every seat was the same at the next. They all had hastily assembled power and data connections for portable computers. A few marines stood outside as guards. Nidara saw one of these marines as the door shot open; the marine waved a turian and an asari inside.

The marine announced them as they entered, "Captain Kherrus of the turian hierarchy and commander Diallah or the Asari Republics."

Cutter rose as the two foreign officers filed in. "It's good to meet the both of you, I am captain Cutter, formerly of the UNSC, now of the Systems alliance. To my right are captains Frieder, Hovich, Canetuer, and Wilhelm, of the _El Alamein, Agincourt, River Somme, _and _Coral Sea_ respectively." He gestured again to his left, "This is Nidara, of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance group. She has been assigned as an observer to this battle group."

"I must admit, until I saw my orders, I had dismissed the existence of a long lost human colony as rumor," Kherrus said. "I see now that those rumors were based on fact. This dreadnaught is impressive, and completely unlike any vessel I have ever seen."

Cutter smiled when the turian called the _Spirit_ a dreadnaught. "Yes, the _Spirit_'s a good ship; she's seen us through more than I care to remember." He closed his eyes and shuddered a bit, remembering the alien parasite they had found on their last fateful mission in their own universe.

"We do not have to discuss the past, the turian captain said. I've been placed in charge of the council task force assigned to help you deal with your Geth problem." The turian continued, "I know you are thinking about how any sort of joint command would work. I am willing to place the vessels under my command, under your command, provisionally of course."

"I thank you for that captain; it will make my life much simpler. But I have to wonder, why are you so willing to accept orders from a human?" Cutter sounded slightly puzzled.

"You have experience fighting the Geth, both in commanding a ground operation, and in space combat. My soldiers have no such advantage, I would be remiss in my duties to those under my command to try and blunder my way into a fight while a better option was available." The turian answered. "Along that line of thought, I want to request that you send a few veterans to my troopship to train them to fight the Geth. I don't want them going in blind."

Cutter noticed the asari didn't seem to like what her superior was saying, but she held her peace, which he took as a good sign. "Of course, I will organize a team to send over after this meeting." Cutter pulled out some papers, "Now I want to discuss some battle plans if we are to find ourselves in a fight…"

***

The elevator came to a stop, and Jerome stepped out taking point. A pair of guards stood at the end of the hall. Jerome walked up to them slowly and with his weapons still at his side.

"You aren't supposed to be here, turn around and go back the way you came." The first one shouted at the armored figure, obviously a little scared of the green giant.

Jerome stared at the mercenary; she slowly backed away getting more and more psyched out by the moment. "I'll tell you what, you leave now, and I won't stake your head to a post outside this office."

The threat seemed to work, the mercenary turned visibly whiter, and signaled to her companion. "Come on, let's get out of here, Anoleis isn't paying us enough anyway."

Jerome watched as the two mercenaries made a hasty retreat to the elevator. His head jerked up at the shout of "Intruders!" from somewhere deeper in the office suite. He saw a pair of turians and a human take cover behind a pair of short walls. He pulled his pistols from where they were attached on his waist. He vaulted forward, landing on top of the first wall. The turian taking cover there looked up in surprise. The Spartan blew him apart with several shots from his pistols. The human had already been killed in a hail of assault rifle fire. He looked for the other turian, and quickly located him, lying against a wall, his neck twisted at an odd angle.

He barely saw the sniper in time. He quite literally fell from his perch and hit the ground rolling as the powerful mass accelerator round flew overhead. He returned fire; the explosive rounds exploding all around the sniper and keeping his head down as Sheppard outflanked him and silenced him with a blast from his shotgun.

"Negative contacts commander," Liara said over the suit radios.

After about five minutes of rummaging around Qui'in's office, they found his personal computer and downloaded the files they needed. As they turned to leave they found a group of several ERCS guards blocking their path.

"Is there a problem?" Sheppard asked, his voice contrasted with how every member of his squad had a weapon trained on the guards in front of them.

"Anoleis would throw you off world for what you've done here, I won't," Sheppard noted the one who had spoke up was the sergeant from earlier in the hangar. "Do you know what we did to cop killers on my world?" Her voice was threatening.

"Do you know what we did to crooked cops on my world?" Wrex replied with an equal measure of threat in his voice.

Jerome leapt into action before the corrupt sergeant could even draw her weapon. She tried to use some sort of biotic power on him, but missed. He landed behind her and grabbed both of her arms, holding the sergeant in front of him as a meat shield. The other five guards were distracted by his acrobatics, and three of them were quickly dispatched by the other squad members. He shoved a screaming Kaira Stirling into another guard, catapulting them off the edge of the balcony, where the screaming abruptly stopped. The final guard was lucky; he fired several rounds into the Spartan before Liara threw the man biotically into a wall.

The man slumped down, stunned, Jerome finished him off with a round from one of his pistols. The squad then went down the nearby stairs to check on the other two guards. Both of them were dead.

"I hate having to kill my own kind," Jerome said.

"Why? As far as I'm concerned all you are doing is improving the gene pool." Wrex stated as a reply.

Jerome looked at the krogan but didn't reply. Instead he followed the commander back to the elevator out of the synthetic insights office.

At the top the administrator's secretary was waiting, "I've heard reports of small arms fire from the synthetic insights office."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Sheppard replied.

"Don't play coy with me commander, talk to me at the hotel bar, before you talk to Qui'in," At that the secretary walked off.

"I wonder what that was about?" Liara asked.

"I think it's safe to say Parasini is not just a secretary," Wrex observed.

"We're wasting time, we need to get to peak 15," Sheppard said. "Let's hurry up and get this cleared up."

The four of them walked into the hotel bar, Sheppard quickly spotted Gianna at one of the tables and went over to talk to her. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Allow me to reintroduce myself commander, Gianna Parasini, Noveria internal affairs. I want you to convince Qui'in to testify before the executive board. In return I will give you full access to port Hanshan facilities." Gianna told the commander.

"Fine I'll help, but I need that pass immediately after I convince him," Sheppard returned.

"Very well, I can give you that, just convince Qui'in," the agent turned back to her drink.

Sheppard walked over to where Qui'in was sitting. The turian looked up at the commander; he seemed more drunk than before. "Ah, commander, any luck with that matter I asked you to look into?"

Sheppard crossed his arms and stared at the turian, "Yes, but I want you to testify before the executive board."

The drunken turian looked outraged, "Oh, so now that you have my evidence you want to dictate how I use it?"

"It's in your best interests," the commander countered smoothly; "You've seen the way the people around here are chafing under Anoleis. If you manage to convict him, you'd be something of a hero."

"I see there is no convincing you Sheppard." He seemed to make up his mind about something, "Fine I'll testify, go ahead and tell whoever put you up to this, I want to finish my drink."

Sheppard walked back over to Gianna, "I've convinced Qui'in to testify, now your end of the bargain?"

"Thank you commander, you've done me a great favor. Here is the garage pass." She handed Sheppard a data card.

Sheppard started walking off, "Alright let's get to peak 15, Benezia has enough of a head start already."

***

Nidara walked into the officer's mess, she grabbed a tray of food from the line. She didn't much care for human food, except for their deserts, which were extremely flavorful compared to similar asari dishes. She only came to the officer's mess because she felt extremely alone in her own quarters. All asari prefer shared spaces over individual ones, and she was no different. Of course being in a shared space wasn't the same as sharing the space. This group of humans seemed very cliquish. The ODSTs and the marines didn't sit together, even in the officer's spaces. She consigned herself to eating alone at the end of a table again when she saw someone waving her over.

"Hey, blue girl! There's a seat over here," Nidara was a bit startled to see that it was Jack, the lieutenant she had fought with on Terra Nova.

One of the other marines spoke up with a word of complaint, "She ain't ODST Jack, what the hell?"

"She's better in a fight that you Jones, if you don't think she should sit here, maybe you should go over and sit with your marine buddies over there?" Jack retorted, and the marine shut up.

Another marine, a woman, barked out a short laugh, "Yeah and maybe having a hot alien around will keep you boys from staring at my backside."

Nidara smiled at that, the humans were a lot less serious than the turians or salarians she normally worked with.

"I wouldn't want to take potential mates from you," Nidara said, a wry smile on her face.

"Ah, hell, sarcastic aliens. I could deal with the genocidal nutcases, but this?" The female marine said, Nidara read her nametag; it had the name 'Chelle Sidorov'.

"You know, I've heard of the covenant, but never about what it was like to fight them." Nidara said, "From what I've heard, they are a lot worse than the Geth."

"They're worse than that even," Jack smiled. "The grunts weren't bad, as long as you managed to keep them from gathering in large numbers, or killed their elite."

"Grunts, elites? What are those, some sort of rank?" Nidara asked.

"Nah, the covenant was a collection of species, each species had a certain role, and the grunts looked like little monkeys wearing armor. They weren't much for combat, slow moving fat targets, bad shots. They had numbers though; the covenant would deploy hundreds as cannon fodder just to test our defenses sometimes. Individually they weren't much, but if they got in large enough numbers, they'd lose all fear of death. They were cunning little bastards too." Jack explained.

"The elites on the other hand were scary as hell. They had shields that could take a grenade and they'd still come after you. They weren't as good as our Spartans, but they were at least as tough. Hell some of them were tougher, I once saw a gold armored one take a tank round and keep on fighting like nothing had happened." He seemed to think for a minute, "Then there were the hunters, big ol' things wearing tank armor, equipped with their version of a rocket launcher, and the jackals, those things were the most annoying. They either would carry handheld energy shields or a sniper rifle, either one could pin down entire squads long enough for the elites to get in close and butcher them."

She noticed his eyes had started to get a faraway look in them. "It must have been terrible, fighting a losing battle against those things."

"Yeah, a lot of good men died, and all we could do was hold them back long enough to evacuate however many civilians had managed to get to get to the transports. Even then they didn't always make it." She noticed he had started to talk with the same tone of voice he had used earlier on the pelican.

Nidara quickly changed the subject, "So what do you guys do for fun around here? I've always wanted to try that human card game, what is it called? Poker?"

Jack got a predatory smile across his face, one that was mimicked on the faces of the other marines, "I think there's a deck of cards around here somewhere."

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Author's Notes:

Right now I am suffering from a severe desire to start writing the sequel to this story before I've even finished this one, and it's giving me writers block. Sucks, but I think I can refrain from skipping ahead or ruining this story in favor of that one.

General MB: Pinnacle station will most likely not appear in this fic (I don't really have time to buy the add on and play it.

Shadow Broker: I understand, but I haven't read the novels, so I'm going almost exclusively off the game canon, and as such I probably won't add in much if anything from them.


	11. Bugs

"Yes, that's genuine, drive safely, the weather is supposed to be pretty bad out there," Jerome heard the guard say as Sheppard presented their garage pass.

The door shut behind them, Jerome listened carefully, it sounded like some sort of metallic clicking. He held up a hand and took his rifle off his back, the others did the same. He ducked behind a box as a rocket of some kind went flying past the group. He looked out and saw two large Geth approaching, destroyers; he triggered a burst at the lead on and ducked back behind the crate. He checked his motion detector; two blips seemed to be moving across it at high speed.

He looked back out from his crate, one of the destroyers was charging, _they never learn do they?_ As it approached he rolled out of cover, dodging the machine's shotgun blast and standing up with the full power of his Mjolner armor. The Geth machine was strong, but it was not tough, or heavy. Lightweight alloy armor crumpled as the Spartan hit it from below with his shoulder. Jerome dragged the thing's carcass back into cover, using it to absorb some of the damage from the other's shotgun. He noticed with concern that the shot had over penetrated and damaged his shields.

"Wrex, hit the other destroyer, Liara, see if you can't take down the hoppers!" Sheppard yelled over the radio.

Jerome waited for his shields to recharge, and then joined Wrex in firing at the second destroyer with his assault rifle. The combined fire knocked out its shields just before it charged; unfortunately both their weapons had overheated. He dropped his assault rifle and drew one of his pistols, shooting the destroyer in the leg, the power of the explosive round knocked its foot out from under it, and it tripped, sliding the rest of the way to his feet, Wrex promptly shot it with his shotgun, destroying it.

He saw the tell tale blue flicker at the edge of his screen and saw a Geth hopper get hit with a biotic shove as it leapt, slamming it into a wall, momentarily stunning it.

Another hopper seemed to be orbiting a glowing blue sphere, helpless. Sheppard quickly dispatched it with fire from his assault rifle. Jerome picked up his dropped assault rifle and finished off the first hopper, he looked around for a few moments. "Clear," He announced.

"What the hell did you do here?" Came a voice from the garage entrance.

In response the guard captain had four guns pointed towards her at once. The squad quickly lowered their weapons as they realized they were pointed at a human.

"I could ask you the same question, where the hell did those Geth come from?" Sheppard demanded of the guard captain.

"Geth, but that's… I don't know," She admitted and shook her head.

"Safe money is Benezia had them brought here with her," Wrex suggested.

"If that's the case there could be dozens out there, now if you'll excuse me I have to go warn the executive board, if word gets out about loose Geth there could be an investor panic." Matsuo turned to leave.

"Load up," Sheppard called, and the team filed into the Mako, ready to set off for peak 15.

***

Jack put his hand to his head in frustration, "Damn fleeced like a FNG."

Nidara managed to look entirely innocent, "Beginners luck?"

"Oh sure, next thing she'll tell us is she's never been in space before," the female marine put in. "I blame you Jack; you were the one to bring her here."

"How was I supposed to know she knew how to play cards?" He stared glumly at the pile of money, alliance and UNSC, in front of Nidara.

Any further conversation was cut off as alarms started blaring. An announcement came over the PA system, "Combat alert, all hands to battle stations, this is not a drill!"

"Now I'll never win it back," Jack sighed and stood up, jogging off to get his armor.

Nidara scooped up her winnings and stuffed them into a bag, then headed off to the bridge. She wondered what was wrong now.

She stepped onto the bridge to hear Captain Cutter giving orders.

"No, save the MAC gun, if these batarians are as bad as I've heard, I want to get all of them in one go," Cutter was looking at a holographic projection of nearby space, a group of cruiser and frigate sized vessels were making for the planet.

A small representation of the turian and asari captains stood on small pedestals on the bridge, the turian spoke first, "Why would batarians be so stupid to attack a dreadnaught?"

"Maybe they are misinformed, they might think we are simply a troopship, or some sort of freighter made out to be a super ship in alliance propaganda," Cutter suggested.

"They may also think you've left the system, your ship runs unusually cool Cutter, our sensors put you at a heavy cruiser from long range," The asari captain put in.

"That's entirely possible; our coolant is many times more efficient than yours. I'll lay low in the planet's atmosphere, hide from visuals, I want you to fight them at range while they close. If possible save a ship for a boarding action, if they are connected to the Geth attack I want answers." Cutter kept the channel open but turned to his subordinates and started issuing orders, readying the ship for combat. "We'll teach these batarians what attacking a human colony means."

***

Jerome-092 clambered into the Mako's turret controls; he moved the turret around a few times experimentally as they set off through the tunnel that led outside. As they left the tunnel a warning light in his heads up display flashed, warning that temperatures outside were dropping below acceptable alliance hard suit limitations. He gritted his teeth, if they had to ditch the vehicle it would be hard on his allies, well Sheppard and Liara, the Krogan didn't seem to be the kind to be affected by extreme weather.

He turned his attention back to the road ahead, he barely made out the wreck of another rover, it looked like some sort of civilian model, but it had been blown apart by rocket fire. "Sheppard, civilian rover down up ahead, looks like from rocket fire," He said aloud.

"Keep an eye out for an ambush, we don't know what's out there," Sheppard told him offhandedly, concentrating on the forward screen, the blizzard made driving difficult.

They didn't know they were under fire until a rocket flew over the Mako. Sheppard swore under his breath and dodged out of the way of more of the dumb fire weapons. The cold masked the stationary Geth quite well, but an IFV working at full power probably showed up like a flare in the chilly weather.

Jerome took note of the rocket's original path and fired the main cannon in the general direction of where the shot came from; e couldn't tell if he hit anything.

After a few seconds of erratic driving, the hidden Geth rocket troopers started to show up on the infra red. They apparently weren't smart enough to slow their fire rate enough to keep themselves from appearing on a thermal scan. Jerome mercilessly burned them down with combinations of machine gun and cannon fire. He checked the shield readout for the Mako; still at full, they hadn't been hit.

"Sir, the Geth couldn't have much more than basic troopers out here, it's only a few miles to peak fifteen, I say we run the gauntlet instead of fight our way through it." Jerome suggested.

"He's right Sheppard, the Geth don't have any weapons good for destroying a fast vehicle, I say we punch on through," Wrex agreed.

"Right, straight through it is then," Sheppard mashed on the accelerator, weaving every so often like a drunk driver to keep stray rockets from impacting the vehicle.

They didn't see much of the Geth save for the stray rocket flying past. At one point Jerome spotted an armature with the infrared systems, he quickly killed it with cannon fire; the explosion blinded the infrared for a few seconds as they sped on.

After several intense minutes they arrived at peak fifteen. Another civilian rover was crashed into the main garage entrance. There was no sign of the Geth that must have caused it. They waited for a few minutes in the Mako for rockets to come out of the billowing snow behind them. When none came they disembarked and sprinted for the smaller personnel entrance next to the main garage entry.

Jerome could immediately tell that something was wrong. It was quiet; the lights were on emergency power. The only problem was that there didn't appear to be any signs of forced entry, the crashed rover notwithstanding. However, there wasn't any room for a person to squeeze through the wreckage, and no signs that anyone had. There was no scarring from mass accelerator hits on the walls.

He took point, leading the group to the inner garage door. Sheppard and Wrex took up positions on the other side. He tapped the controls and the door started to rise. Jerome peaked out to take a look, he saw a couple Krogan standing near a parked rover and several shipping crates, as the door opened they reached for their guns and ducked into cover.

He fired several burst over the crates and was rewarded with the flash of blue as they hit one of the aliens' humps. The thing's shields held it off and it shifted position to get out of the line of fire. Wrex yelled something and sent a series of biotic shoves behind a large shipping crate.

A rocket flew back in return, blowing another hole in the main garage door. The hulking form of a Geth juggernaut came out from behind the shipping crate. Jerome got up and ran towards the machine. It turned and shot at him as he charged. His shields dropped as he made contact; the juggernaut weighed nearly as much as he did, but all of his momentum was directed into the thing's knee. The juggernaut toppled as its leg snapped. He finished it by firing both his pistols into its back.

Unfortunately the two krogan stood up in the fire put out by his squad mates, and shrugging off the damage shot him several times with their own rifles. The weapons didn't hurt nearly as bad as the covenant plasma pistol he had been hit with earlier in his career as a Spartan, but they went straight through his armor and out the other side, four streaks of blood trickled down his chest plate before his body could even try and patch together the wounds.

He stood despite the pain and added the firepower of his own assault rifle to the mix and eventually the two krogan went down, bleeding profusely out of dozens of holes each.

Jerome looked around for a few moments, watching for more enemies. His wounds were starting to get to him. He looked for his bio foam canister; it had been crushed in the fight, and the bio foam had leaked out. "Damn," He muttered to himself.

"Hold up there Spartan," Sheppard called to the super soldier. He produced a package from his armor; it was full of some sort of clear gel. He put the gel inside Jerome's various wounds. To the Spartan's surprise the bleeding immediately stopped, and he could feel the wounds pulling back together.

"What is that stuff?" He asked Sheppard.

"Medigel, comes in handy doesn't it?" Sheppard replied.

"Very," He answered and continued moving deeper into the facility. "Especially if there are more of those things inside."

They continued without incident to what appeared to be an elevator lobby. As they entered they could see a pair of turrets set up pointing in.

"Why would the turrets be facing the wrong way?" Liara asked nervously.

"My guess is Benezia wanted to make sure there were no witnesses when she came here, the turrets are to keep anyone in the facility inside." Jerome took a look at the turrets and ripped each one apart from its power source in turn, "Should be safe now."

The four of them carefully made their way into the elevator. It ascended without incident, though a small warning light told them they were on emergency power. They arrived at the top and finally saw signs of disrepair and combat. The windows, normally exposed to the white ice outside had broken, and snow drifts filled half the hallway. They could hear the wind outside.

Jerome thought he heard the faint sounds of footsteps on snow and help up a hand to tell the squad to hold. He inched forward on his stomach until he reached a room that appeared to be some sort of cafeteria or meeting room, but was now as decrepit as the hallway he had exited. He saw a short flight of stairs that ended abruptly in a snow drift. Walking along the drift were a pair of Geth troopers, he looked to the other side and saw two shock troopers standing near a half wall, similar to the ones decorating the synthetic insights office he had been in nearly two hours ago.

"Four contacts, two shock troopers, two troopers. Shouldn't be a problem," He whispered into his radio.

He saw the telltale blue tinge at the edge of his vision as Wrex and Liara directed biotic attacks at the shock troopers. He raised his assault rifle and killed one of the Geth troopers, Sheppard did the same. The Spartan then walked over to the shock troopers, one was down, the other was trying to get back up. A quick burst put it down for good.

Jerome scanned the area for enemies until the rest of the squad caught up.

A high pitched insect-like noise pierced the air. He looked around for a source, but didn't see anything but ice frosted windows.

"Animals, wind, this place is in rough shape," Wrex commented.

Jerome caught a flash of motion behind one of the windows on an upper balcony, "movement!"

All four of them trained their weapons on the only entrance to the balcony. Several small insects started a headlong rush at them, as their weapons hit them they exploded in a cloud of green goo. It reminded Jerome uncomfortably of the parasites he fought the last time he was in his own universe.

Their weapons kept the little suicidal bugs at bay until the flow slowed to a trickle then stopped.

A much larger bug came around the corner, it stood on four legs and had two almost vestigial arms clutched to its chest, but two huge whip like appendages topped with wicked looking claws swayed menacingly in the air.

Jerome acted on instinct. He fired until he saw the thing slump over, dodging over a spray of acid. It fell, but it was tough, taking several hits before going down.

"What the hell was that thing?" Liara exclaimed.

"Beats me, I've never seen anything like it," Wrex answered.

"We need to find out what's going on here, that elevator up there says it goes to the main computer core." Sheppard pointed up towards the balcony.

Jerome looked where he pointed. Serina piped up for the first time since landing on Noveria.

"If you can get me inside the core I could find out what went wrong here," she said over his helmet speakers.

"You've been awfully quiet," Jerome said in return, low enough that the helmet mic didn't pick it up.

"You aren't the best conversationalist, besides I've been having fun on the extranet. It's amazing how easy it is to set up information scavengers from one terminal, then access the data they've found from another. They have some pretty robust security software, but they never really thought of an AI getting into their systems." She replied.

"Good to know you've been having fun," Jerome replied then turned his attention back to the elevator, now opening on the main computer core level.

"There, that looks like an auxiliary power shunt," Liara called and pointed at a small five foot tower with a large switch on its front.

Sheppard reached out and flipped the switch. The lights flipped from a dull emergency red to the bright white of a lab. "Now where is the computer core, the station VI might know what happened here."

Before they could move a wave of the smaller insects swarmed out of an air vent. A short burst from Jerome's assault rifle killed all of them. "At least they aren't showing much more than the intelligence of animals," he remarked.

Sheppard waved them over to where the corridor split into two paths around a large cylinder that stretched from floor to ceiling. The other side as open, and a small button marked 'down' in the center of the small circular room.

Sheppard walked onto the platform and hit the button, it went down nearly ten feet before revealing a small terminal. After nearly five minutes of tinkering and swearing from the commander, during which the other three covered the sir vents nervously, the core reactivated, a tone sounded and the platform came back up. As Sheppard stepped off a hologram popped into existence.

"Hello, it looks like you are trying to reactivate this facility, how can I be of assistance?" the VI asked in a cheery voice.

"What happened here?" Sheppard asked the hologram.

"Error, queries related to company projects require privileged access. You currently have technical access to this facilities systems." The VI responded.

"Allow me," Jerome said and stepped forward, what looked like a spark flashed from his hand to the holographic panel.

"What did you just do?" Sheppard demanded.

"Serina is a smart AI, as such she can enter and subvert hostile computer systems easily." Jerome explained.

The VI's hologram flickered several times and was replaced by Serina's image, but colored the same orange as the original hologram.

"Can't say I approve of the color choice, but I guess I'll just have to make due," She looked at the surprised expressions of the squad. "What? Never seen a UNSC AI in action before?" She smiled sarcastically, knowing full well that none of the others knew the full capabilities of a 'Smart' AI. "Getting back to the matter at hand… Let's see here, Binary Helix finds a derelict… Interesting."

"What is it?" Sheppard asked.

"They say they found a derelict Rachni ship in the logs," Serina looked puzzled, data streaming across her avatar at a very quick pace.

"Rachni, impossible, the krogan wiped out the rachni nearly two millennia ago," Wrex shook his head. "We didn't leave anything behind."

"That's not all, they found an egg, and hatched it." Serina shook her head.

"That wasn't exactly smart, I thought the rachni were responsible for millions of deaths in the war." Sheppard said.

"Yeah, it seems extremely stupid. What's worse though, is it was a rachni queen. They have her trapped in their rift station research facility. They were using her to, breed an army of super soldiers. At least that is what the files say." Serina had the same smug look on her face Jerome knew from when he had left Arcadia with the _Spirit of Fire_.

"Unfortunately it seems when Benezia came here she let the rachni out of containment, apparently they were the cause of all the destruction around here." She turned her head quickly as if seeing something suddenly. "Wait, there are survivors at rift station where the queen is. It looks like a couple of guards and scientists managed to barricade themselves inside a lab. I can open a channel to them now."

Sheppard sighed, "Do it, we might find out where Benezia went."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's notes:

General MB: Yeah, there will probably end up being something happening between my OCs, through this story and the sequel. As far as the books, I've read the halo ones, and therefore will use them, the mass effect ones aren't that involved with the main storyline so I will probably end up not using them. If I get them and read them before I write the sequel I might include them, if not I'll do my best with the summaries on the mass effect wiki.

Pinnacle station might appear later on, it sounds simple enough to include without actually playing through it.


	12. The Hunt

AN: Sorry for the long update, but the workload that comes with being an engineering major takes up a lot of time.

Sheppard and Jerome stood where Mira's core had been, now of course Serina's avatar had replaced the VI. "Who exactly is in the lab?" Sheppard asked the AI.

"From what I can see, some sort of doctor, and several patients, they look very sick. That's odd, the soldiers just left. They might have more survivors over there than I first thought," she stated.

"Then go ahead and contact them, they might know where Benezia went to," Sheppard ordered.

On the other side, at the rift station research facility Zev Cohen was trying to find a way into the locked medical storage cabinets. He couldn't get in without authorization by the station VI Mira. Suddenly he saw a flicker in the corner of his eye. A surge of hope went through him as he saw the holographic panel flare to life.

"Mira, you're back online. Thank god, I had started to lose hope," He exclaimed before he turned around. "Wait a minute, you aren't Mira. How did you get into the station facilities?"

"Oh, I came in on the shoulders of a giant, and I need some information, about an asari matriarch." On Cohen's side her avatar stared at the man impassively; on Sheppard's side of the conversation Serina smiled and appeared quite pleased with herself.

"I don't know who the hell you are! Why would I tell you anything?" The doctor demanded.

"Well, I'm here with a bunch of people with guns, you are over there, likely overrun with whatever creatures we just fought our way through, looking at a survival situation. I can send these guys with guns over there to help you, or I can go over there and hope you distract those things long enough for us to find out what happened here. What's it going to be?" She smiled at him.

Cohen seemed to think for a while, and then finally sighed, "I don't know who programmed a VI with your manner, but they must have had a few screws loose. What do you want to know?"

"An asari matriarch came here to peak 15, where is she now?" Serina asked.

"I don't know, she went up to the hot labs before all this started, probably died when those things broke out, I don't know what they were, some sort of experiment gone wrong." Cohen looked back at his patients. "Look, I need to unlock this cabinet here, the medigel inside will help me with my patients."

"I'll do that as soon as you tell me how to get over there to you," Serina looked at the doctor, the same smile on her face.

"There should be a tram running from there to here. If you can get through all the bugs in the tunnel there shouldn't be a problem," He turned to the medical cabinet as a lock clicked, "Thank you for that, I don't know who you are, but I hope you get here in time."

With that Serina closed the connection, "You had better go, it will be easier if I stay here in the computer system."

After a short trek through the facility, punctuated by the creaking of the insects crawling through vents, they arrived at a locked door.

"Serina?" Called Jerome as he tried to find a control for the door.

"Just a minute, those things are in there. There is some sort of emergency decontamination system, ah! There it is." As the AI's words trailed off they heard the sound of the rachni screaming in pain, and they felt a wave of plasma wash over them. "That should do it."

"Yeah, no kidding," Wrex commented as they proceeded to the tram station without further encounters.

Onboard the pirate ship one of the bridge crew turned towards his captain, "Sir, I've detected seven frigates, a transport, and what appears to be two cruisers, one of them is in atmosphere. That's a lot more than we expected, should we turn back?"

"Of course not, how do you think the batarians will ever triumph over the humans. We must take what we want. Our ships outnumber them two to one, a batarian fleet this size hasn't been around since the blitz, only this time there is no Sheppard to save them." The captain growled in reply.

"We are in weapons range, opening fire. Ha! Direct hit, one of the frigates is leaving the area, I think we hurt them." The batarian crewman continued to feed reports to his captain.

"One frigate isn't much of a prize, concentrate fire on that cruiser, have the frigates deal with their counterparts," The captain had a dangerous glint in his eye, one other more fanatical batarians normally got when they encountered a chance to hurt the humans.

"Sir, the other cruiser is coming out of atmosphere, wait, lidar puts it in the dreadnaught range,"

"Impossible," Snarled the captain, "The lidar is wrong."

One of the dots representing a batarian cruiser winked out from the display, another lost shields and before it could pull away it was destroyed as well. "Sir, shots coming from the second cruiser, positive contact, it is a dreadnaught, but it doesn't have anywhere the heat signature it should."

"Damn the humans! Full speed ahead, we'll ram their new toy and see how they like it,"

The rest of the crew looked at their captain warily, he was actually suggesting they ram a dreadnaught, a ship capable of shooting the rest of their fleet to pieces in a matter of minutes, long before they could close the range. Their thoughts were interrupted as the battle computer began alerting the crew to another ship lost, this time a frigate. "Captain, that ship is one shot killing us from beyond our own range."

"The batarian nation will triumph, the humans will know their time has come when their dreadnaught plunges into the atmosphere of their..." the captain was cut off by a single gunshot from his second in command.

"We're getting out of here now, all ships retreat!" He yelled over the ship to ship communications channel.

The batarian fleet turned over to begin a burn into FTL away from the human ships when the second cruiser lost shields, then took a hit in the engines, disabling the vessel and sending several space suited batarians flying into space.

The new batarian captain closed his eyes for a moment before ordering the remaining ships to transit to FTL away from the new super ship. The batarian leaders would need to know about this.

Jerome stepped over the corpse of a few of the bug like creatures. As soon as they had arrived at rift station they had to fight through hordes of the things, luckily their acidic spray and claws were no match to a shielded veteran spartan. They were even easier to kill than the flood were, and a lot less numerous.

He stepped through another door past the elevator Serina had said led to where the survivors had holed up. As soon as he did he had five assault rifles pointed directly into his face.

"Who are you?" Demanded an aged looking man in combat armor, he appeared to be the leader of the group.

"I'm here to stop these bugs and find an asari matriarch, so if you're going to shoot me, I'd like to know soon," Serina answered for him before he could speak. Then over the internal speakers only she said, "let me do the talking big guy, I have a feeling some of these ERCS guys are in with Benezia, this might be a time for finesse."

Jerome was about to ask how she managed to use his speaker system while inside the binary helix computer system, but he decided against it.

Sheppard stepped out from behind the green behemoth. "And I'm Sheppard, with the systems alliance navy, there are reports that Benezia is involved with the Geth. I'm here to confirm or deny them."

Jerome knew they already had all the evidence they needed to convict Benezia, but considering Serina's words he decided to follow Sheppard's lead on this one.

"She went to the secured areas a few days ago. I don't know what happened after that," He looked extremely tired but thankful, "listen we should be able to hold out here for long enough if you cleared out the tramways, we'll hold up here, you go on and find whatever you are looking for. I shouldn't let you through to the secured areas, but if that's were these bugs are coming from, you go right ahead. If binary helix made these things, then that means they killed all my men as well. I don't think I owe them anything else. Good luck."


	13. Death, and New Directions

AN: _Sorry for the long (really long) wait, I've been dealing with school work and a huge case of writers block, I think I've tried to write this chapter something like ten times, but couldn't get past the first sentence. I finally found some inspiration by starting a second halo/mass effect crossover, so hopefully that continues. I already have ideas planned out for the next several chapters, so I'll get to work on those. Just realized something, thirteenth chapter on friday the thirteenth... Also, stupid asterisks keeping sections separate keep disappearing on me I've replaced them with ooooooo's  
_

_ooooooo  
_

Nidara stood on the bridge next to captain Cutter. The turians had offered to capture the disabled cruiser. Cutter had accepted the turian's offer. Nidara remained on the _Spirit_, deciding not to participate in this particular battle.

The bridge was filled with the sounds of the various com techs and operators giving orders, either to marine detachments on the ground, supply shuttles, or communicating with the turian strike teams taking the stricken pirate vessel.

"What do you need Nidara?" Asked the aging human captain.

"I'm just thinking captain," Nidara choose not to continue, waiting for the captain to ask the inevitable.

"What about?" Cutter looked back at the asari.

Nidara brought her hand to her chin in a human gesture signifying thought. "Well, I'm starting to think this attack wasn't at random."

"What do you mean?" Cutter turned around and gave her his full attention.

"Well, we know that the rogue, Saren, is working with the Geth. We also know that he is targeting humans specifically, probably to try and separate you from council support." Nidara walked over to the holo display and pointed at the citadel vessels operating near the Spirit, "It's not working as well as he might hope, but there you have it."

"I still don't see what you're getting at." Cutter replied flatly.

"I haven't gotten there yet. Another thing we know is that a huge amount of Saren's information net is still active. Your ship represents a major threat; even his flagship might not be able to withstand your main gun. It's likely he's trying to draw it out, test it, and probably destroy it." She fiddled with the controls, bringing up a galactic map. "Shepard is the one with orders to bring down Saren, but we might be able to draw Saren and his forces into a trap rather than the other way around…"

Cutter crossed his arms, "So, what's your plan then?"

"Keep in mind that this is mostly guesswork, but see if you follow me on this, Saren wouldn't dare attack any world in council space, judging by the council's support he's towing the line even operating in the traverse. If we move into the terminus systems themselves, we might make him more reckless, more likely to commit quickly and without careful thinking."

"Bite off more than he can chew." Cutter suggested the human phrase as an analogy.

"Apt, but essentially yes," She brought up one specific system on the map, "Illium, technically an asari colony world, it's actually considered the gateway to the terminus systems. You can bet Saren's information net is pretty well entrenched there."

"So feed him some false information, convince him or his Geth to attack, and hurt his forces."

"That's mostly it, yeah, though I was planning on seeing just what information Saren has been trying to pick up, we might be able to guess ahead at his plans and act accordingly." Nidara smiled, "it's not perfect, but it'll be the best chance we have at preventing this from happening again," She waved out the window at the colony to emphasize her point.

Cutter nodded, and looked out at the planet below, staying silent.

Nidara broke the silence after a few moments "I can't pretend to imagine what it would be like losing world after world to an unstoppable enemy, that hasn't happened to us since the krogan rebellions, but I don't ever want to see it come to that. Saren is ruthless and power hungry, I'll do everything I can to see him stopped."

"Then just tell me what you need me to do."

ooooooo

Jerome stepped slowly into the room. His spartan training took in the details. A huge tank held a massive version of the insects he and the commander had ploughed through on their way here. A ring of walkways surrounded it. In the center platform stood a single asari, obviously matriarch Benezia. She turned to face the group, "You do not know the privilege of being a mother, the power to shape a life towards happiness or despair. Her children were to be ours, raised to hunt and slay-"

A shot rang out. The explosive round from Jerome's pistol exploded harmlessly on Benezia's barriers. The asari matriarch turned towards the spartan, and made a hand motion. The super soldier froze in place. Powered armor capable of flipping a tank battled with biotic power honed over a thousand years.

"What is this? If you think bringing my daughter here will tempt me from Saren's light then you are sadly mistaken." Her face started to show the strain of keeping the spartan in place.

"Mother…" Liara's voice sounded pleading.

Shepard stepped up next to the asari, "Liara is here because she wants to be. Not to convince you of anything, now, surrender. You won't be harmed if you do, Saren is an evil man, I'm sure you still have a good core somewhere in there."

"Have you ever faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

The biotic power keeping Jerome in place finally dissipated, "Have you ever faced a Spartan-II commando before? That was a rhetorical question, if you had, you wouldn't be alive."

The spartan pulled his second weapon and leapt at the matriarch. A second biotic push hit him just as he went airborne, sending the Spartan flying back into the wall. In midair Jerome flipped around, pushing off the wall and landing on a walkway below, right in front of a startled asari.

The asari had a knife in her hand, and shoved at the spartan with a biotic power. Without the power of a matriarch behind her, Jerome merely had to shift his weight to his back leg and push forward. Before the alien could react she found herself face down on the ground, with a knife embedded in her neck.

Jerome stood up from his kill and took aim at a pair of Geth entering the room. They didn't last long. Still their shots depleted his shields. He took cover behind a crate, taking stock of the situation. The others were holding their own; apparently his little show had attracted Benezia's full attention, keeping her from using biotics to kill Shepard's team.

Still, he knew now that he wasn't immune to her level of biotic power_. This might actually be a tough fight…_

_ooooooo  
_

Jack sat with his team in the company barracks, telling stories about bar fights, the war, whatever. Jack had heard each story about a dozen times already, to door leading in whooshed open, followed by several wolf-whistles from the ODSTs lounging around the barracks. He assumed Chelle had gotten back from her workout at the gym, and the other marines were taking the opportunity to ogle.

He was surprised when the voice behind him revealed that the visitor was the alien woman. "Lieutenant, how would you like some leave?"

Jack slowly stood up and turned to face the visitor. "I don't like the sound of that question…"

His squad laughed at his answer, but they shut up when he shot a glare at them. The alien kept speaking, ignoring the ODSTs, "I'm heading to Illium, one of our colony worlds, on a sort of subterfuge mission for your captain. He gave me the opportunity to pick whatever backup I wanted to bring along. Figured you and your squad would be up to it."

Jack brought his hand up to his chin, "Leave on a world full of blue people? Sure, why the hell not? What's the mission anyway?"

"Mostly it's to plant false information to lead Saren's forces right into a trap."

Lima-2, known as Jones, spoke up, "Aw… why can't the mission be something like 'have fun'"

"That's the second part. We can't make it too obvious that we'll be there for information, so a few hundred of your fellow soldiers actually will be getting leave."

Lima-3, known as fire hazard, or 'hazard', replied to that, "Why the hell did you open your mouth Jones?"

The other ODST smiled sheepishly. But Lima-4, known as Steeple was the one to say something, "Yeah, but if we want to keep our cover, then we'll have to live the good life too. Which means drinking at the bars and hiring strippers." He winked at fire hazard, "You might have to go to a different bar for your tastes."

"I'm never going to live that down am I?"

"Nope, it's your nickname now, too late to change it."

Jack cleared his throat, silencing the troopers, "Alright, what do we need to do Nidara?"

The asari smiled, "We'll be arriving first, with the _Cunning Blow_, one of my people's frigates.

"Do we get an expense account; I've always wanted an expense account, those old spy novels always made it sound so cool." Lima-2 sounded like a child begging for a toy.

"Yes, we do." The asari replied.

Jack had to cover his ears from the squeal of delight that came from his squad mate.

ooooooo

Jerome dodged another biotic power, by anticipating Benezia's hand gestures he found that he could move out of the way at the last possible second. Almost as an afterthought he shot an asari commando dead before she could assault Shepard's team.

The matriarch was tiring, biotic powers were coming less and less often. She had even brought out her pistol a few times to keep both he and Shepard's team back. Reinforcements were thinning. Jerome could sense the battle coming to an end. He ran at Benezia, registering the unsteady way the alien held herself up. She was ready to collapse form exhaustion alone. He brought his assault rifle up to bash out her brains, but again found himself unable to move.

"Liara! What are you doing?" He heard Shepard exclaim from somewhere off to the side.

Strangely Benezia seemed to be fighting with herself in bringing her pistol to bear; she tried to push down one arm with the other. Her actions bought Jerome time enough for Shepard to step in, disarming Benezia and knocking her back into a railing.

The asari turned with an evil grin across her face, "You cannot stop me, and my mind is filled with Saren's light! Our cause is just! We will win!"

Shepard met Jerome's eyes briefly, before regarding Benezia. "The rachni seem to disagree with you."

Benezia dipped her head, "I… you… You must listen! I can fight the indoctrination, but only for so long."

This was new. Jerome regarded the alien with a critical look, she was obviously insane, or there was something else very wrong here.

"When you're aboard his ship, something whispers to you in the dark, the angles press in on you, you start to believe what he believes. I had thought myself strong enough to fight it, but the effect is subtle. Before long I found myself sitting at his feet, worshipping the very words he spoke."

Jerome shifted uncomfortably. The thought of his enemy having mind control was disturbing to say the least.

"I came here to find the location of the Mu relay, one long lost to time. The rachni knew where the relay is. I took it from the queen's mind… by force I am afraid."

Shepard stepped forward, "Give me the location, then come with us, you can help us against Saren."

"No… It is not possible, even now I hear it talking to me, reaching out to take my mind once more… Take this disc, it holds the location of the relay, then, please kill me… I won't become a willing servant again."

Shepard took the proffered disc.

Liara stepped forward, "Mother… "

"Goodbye little wing, I was always proud of you…"

Something changed in Benezia's expression, resuming its fanatical gleam. She began to glow with biotic power again. Jerome reacted, before she could do anything, he reached out and snapped her neck.

ooooooo

_AN: Decided to skip the whole asari possessed by rachni bit, honestly got bored following the game storyline, the next chapter should skip straight to the debreifing. From now on the story should be deviating significantly from the original mass effect plotline._


	14. The Calm

_Alright, due to popular demand, I've hammered out the next chapter, you get to see what happens to the rachni, and a little bit of character interaction. I'd take this chapter more as part two rather than any sort of full chapter. (had to make sure I updated on the one year mark)  
_

Liara nearly jumped out of her skin when one of the asari commandos on the floor got up and started shuffling towards the rachni tank, like out of some cheap human horror vid.

She saw the spartan pull his weapon and train it on the asari. Not quite knowing what she was doing, she stepped in between the armored human and the once dead commando.

"What are you doing?" the spartan's deep voice nearly made her lose her nerve, but she stood her ground.

"You killed my mother in cold blood, I'm not going to just let you execute this woman because she is moving" The man's pistol shifted ever so slightly, so that it was centered on her heart.

Shepard stepped in, "Jerome, stand down!"

The spartan might have argued if he was anything but a spartan. Almost like reflex he dropped his aim and stood at attention.

"We'll talk back on the ship, both of you." Shepard looked to both of them in turn. "For now, we have a zombie to talk to." He jerked a thumb back to where the asari was standing by the rachni cage. The woman had half lidded eyes and seemed to jerk like a puppet on strings. The rachni queen behind her looked eerily like the puppeteer.

The asari puppet turned to look at the spartan, "Your mind sings only of destruction… why are you here? Have you come to silence our songs for all time?"

Liara looked back and forth between the super soldier and the insect queen. Jerome had his rifle raised; the giant insect was doing its best to appear non-threatening.

Shepard interrupted the standoff, "If anything happens here, it will be because I ordered it. Now, I'm assuming I'm talking to the rachni queen." Jerome lowered his rifle at the words.

The controlled asari turned to Shepard again, "The reclaimer sings … his thoughts are of destruction, the destruction of a diseased body, so that a new one can grow, it is a quiet song, but it is there. You three do not sing, not as he does, yet you are the one to guide his actions…"

"The hell is the bug talking about?" Wrex joined the conversation.

Liara looked at the spartan, the rachni's description sounded familiar. Her thoughts were interrupted when the queen started speaking again. "What will you do? Will you free us so that we can compose anew? Or will you clean our memory from the universe?"

Wrex shook his head, "Millions of my people died to stop them the first time Shepard, don't make the mistake of loosing them on the galaxy."

Liara spoke up to defend the creature, "The council let the krogan go too far, you can't just destroy an entire species based on the past."

The rachni's puppet started speaking again, "We do not know what your companions speak of. We were not alive when the queens of before invaded your space. We only know what this one knows about the war." The puppet pointed towards itself.

Shepard stood for a few moments, debating. He turned to the spartan. "What do you think Jerome?"

Liara expected the man to press the button gassing the tank before Shepard could stop him. She was surprised when he simply answered the question, and not in the way she expected, "Genocide is wrong. Even when its not humans dying."

Shepard turned back to the tank, "What will you do if I release you?"

"We will hide, retreat to an unknown place, and rebuild our species. We would sing of your forgiveness to our children. Teach them the… peaceful ways."

Shepard walked over to the controls and tapped in the keys that would release the queen.

Wrex stepped up beside him, "I hope you know what you're doing."

"So do I Wrex…"

ooooooo

Jack sat in a pelican, transiting over to an alien frigate. His eyes were closed as he tried to catch a catnap.

It wasn't to be, Nidara interrupted him just before he drifted off, "We're nearly there, you should pick up your gear."

"Hell, can't a guy take a nap around here?" He asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"No." was the only reply he got.

Jack sighed heavily, and picked up his duffel bag as he felt the pelican touch down. He wasn't wearing his helmet, and his weapons were stowed with the rest of his gear, but he was wearing his body armor, if only because he didn't want to wear his dress uniform, especially after Nidara told him that asari didn't actually wear uniforms in their military.

He stepped off the pelican with the rest of his team and the specter. A roomful of very similar looking blue women wearing tight leather outfits greeted him. "Uh…"

One of them stepped forward, "Follow me, you five will have to share bunks set up in the mess hall, we don't have all that much room aboard unfortunately, hopefully that won't be a problem."

Jack could already predict one problem, but he decided to ask Nidara about it, not the crewman, or crewwoman, whatever. He leaned in close and whispered, "uh, are your ships gender segregated or something, because marines are pretty, uh, well they can be a bit promiscuous, and looking at the crew, I'm wondering if there might be a problem."

To his confusion, Nidara only laughed at his little aside. The alien leading them through the ship turned around to regard the specter. Nidara only shook her head, "I'll tell you later," She managed to say between laughing.

Jack shook his head and just followed the pair of asari to their 'bunks'.

ooooooo

Kaiden sat in the briefing room as they went over the events on Noveria. Almost immediately after the ground team walked in he noticed something wasn't right. Liara and Jerome sat as far away from each other as possible. They weren't quite staring daggers at each other, but it was obvious that something had happened.

Ashley spoke up before he could get the chance, "So now that we have the Mu relay location, we go after Saren, find the conduit before he can get there."

Shepard sighed, "There's no point. The Mu relay could go anywhere; we'd be wasting our time. We need to find which system the conduit is actually in."

Kaiden spoke up, "Then what do we do now? Sit around and wait?"

Shepard shook his head, "No, we need to find out whatever Saren plans to use to discover the conduit. It's worked so far, but we need some way of getting ahead of him. We're close; we just need a little bit more information. Alright, crew dismissed!"

Kaiden walked out of the briefing room with the rest of the ground team. Again he saw some tension between Liara and Jerome. No one else seemed to notice. He sighed, and followed Liara to her little 'office', intent on finding out what happened. He didn't really know how to approach the hulking soldier, which left Liara.

As soon as she noticed Kaiden following her, Liara turned around, a bit startled, "Lieutenant, what do you want?"

"I wanted to talk, about you and Jerome. What happened down there?" Kaiden leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

"It's nothing," Liara remarked offhandedly.

"No, it's not." Kaiden stated, "I'm here if you want to talk about it Liara."

Liara's lip turned up in a slight smile, "Thanks Kaiden," Her expression turned to a frown, "It's just… how can he do it? He shows less emotion than a Geth when he's killing people." She sat down and cupped her head in her hands. "I was never all that close to my mother… I guess we didn't go over it all that well at the briefing, but she was brainwashed by Saren's ship somehow. She said she couldn't fight it. He just didn't show any pity or remorse or anything, as soon as she started to attack again he just killed her, like it was nothing."

Kaiden hadn't heard who actually killed Benezia, "I'm sorry."

Liara stared off into space, "The fact that he killed her doesn't bother me all that much, it's just how he did it. You, the commander, Ashley, I'm pretty sure you all would shoot her, but I think you might at least feel bad about it afterwards. Jerome didn't even pause, or apologize, or anything. Then not five minutes later he tells Shepard he was right in saving the rachni species. I don't get it, how can someone be so coldly emotionless?"

Kaiden thought about the question for a while, "Maybe he's not."

Liara gave him a sidelong glance, "What?"

"Well he said he was some sort of super soldier, I doubt whoever made him asked for volunteers. Judging by his capabilities, his training was probably more intense than you can imagine. They probably suppressed any emotions they had to turn them into killing machines. Any feelings he has on the matter are probably buried so far down he can't really express them." Kaiden shrugged and stood up.

"I guess…"

"If you really want to know, you might want to ask him yourself." Kaiden left Liara alone with her thoughts.

ooooooo

Jerome walked into the Mako bay where he spent most of his time. He picked up a couple of crates and set them up in the corner opposite the requisitions officer, forming a makeshift table. Unaware of the various stares from the crewmembers nearby, he began removing his armor so he could make repairs. The chest plate had multiple gunshot holes punched in it. One gauntlet had cracked when he used it to punch through a Geth. Before removing the damaged pieces he first removed the chip containing Serina and inserted it into a holo-pedestal nearby.

Spartans never liked to remove their armor, but when it was necessary, they didn't drag their feet. Their armor was their best friend, when it was damaged, they repaired it as soon as possible, end of story.

After he had removed his helmet, chest plates, and gauntlet he finally noticed the eyes staring at the back of his head. He turned around to see the gunnery chief, and one of the aliens, Tali, staring at him, so he returned the stare.

The alien stammered out her words, "Uh do you need any help? I'm pretty good with mechanical systems and the like. I'm really better at starships and things… but I might be able to do something."

The gunnery chief smirked, "I just wanted to see if you really were human under that helmet of yours." She walked away, leaving the alien standing there nervously.

Jerome continued staring. The alien started to get the hint, "Maybe I'll come back later…"

Before she walked off though, Serina's avatar called out, "Hold on there, the tall dark and silent one might not want help repairing this stuff, but he does need it."

Jerome wasn't the best at reading expressions on humans, much less masked aliens. Still he could tell she didn't like the AI.

He was mildly surprised when she seemed to get over it and walked over to inspect the damage to his armor.

The alien started muttering under her breath, like many UNSC mechanics did when working on something. Jerome knew his armor very well after five years, but he hadn't done many field repairs himself, so he stepped back to let the alien work.

_Before you ask, no, the rachni didn't know anything about the forerunners, the queen is just picking off that programmed genetic memory reclaimers have, like how liara found it when she melded with Jerome earlier in the story. I might edit this chapter later, extend this last little bit, but it'll be sometime next week before I do._

_Also, watch for me putting up my other mass effect crossover. I can't tell you which one will update more often, but hopefully having two to work on can keep me inspired enough to update one or the other for the next couple of months until test season starts up for school again._


	15. Business and Healing

_AN: Hopefully we'll get back to some action next chapter..._

_ooooooo  
_

Jack stepped out onto the world of Illium… He realized something as he stepped out, two things really. One was that this was probably the first world he had stepped on where there wasn't an actual enemy to fight in something like ten years. The second thing he realized was that almost every single alien he saw walking around was both blue, and a woman. Just like on the frigate, and just like on the frigate they were staring at his squad like a group of construction workers watch passing women.

Jones was the first to say something, "Alright! More horny blue women."

Jack shook his head, Jones had supposedly seduced one of the frigate's crew, and in his defense he was unaccounted for about five minutes. After that most of the frigate's crew would point and giggle at him when he wasn't looking. Jack decided not to question it.

He turned to Nidara, "Uh, question?"

The asari looked at him expectantly.

"Yeah… uh, what's with all the women?" He asked the specter. The only answer he got was laughter, "Right…"

Nidara eventually recovered from her fit of laughter, "You should really have read the information the alliance gave you."

Jack crossed his arms and looked at the asari, "So, you aren't going to answer the question then?"

Nidara simply gave him a look that thoroughly suggested a no.

Jack sighed, "Fine," He remembered their cover story, find enough bunks in a hotel, or hotels, somewhere so that the Spirit could rotate crew on leave down to the surface. That alone could be interesting; thousands of crew and marines would be a strain on any cleaning staff. Then make some obvious inquiries into Saren's whereabouts, making sure he knew Nidara was asking around on behalf of the spirit. Jack was looking forward to the other parts of the mission, mainly the 'leave time'.

"Well, I guess we should get to work then."

Nidara smiled at him, "If your squad can tear themselves away from the view."

Jack smiled in turn, "I don't know, that's a pretty big if." He reached out and smacked each of them on the back of the head, "Come on now kids, you can ogle later." He started walking after Nidara. "So, where are we going?"

"Place called Eternity, I know the bartender there pretty well. She's a pretty reliable source of information, and before she got that job, she was pretty handy in a fight."

Jack barked out a short laugh at that, "I'm sure, most bartenders I know could handle a shotgun pretty well when it came down to idiots in their bar."

"Yeah, she's more likely to throw you out, or I've even seen her beat a man to death with his own spine."

"That doesn't seem physically possible." Jack noticed Nidara's smirk, "Let me guess, that's what he kept saying?"

Nidara laughed and kept walking.

ooooooo

One of the asari watching the group of humans was not looking out of curiosity, or that general hate reserved for tourists. She watched them with an eye honed by years of training in the commandos. The asari noticed the specter traveling with the group, and took steps to hide her face from view lest she be recognized.

The asari committed each human's face to memory, and stood up after they passed to follow them through the crowd. Her employers would pay handsomely for any information relating to the 'long lost' colony of humans. They would pay even better for the death of the specter assigned to watch them.

For now, the agent knew better than to attack, and forced herself to be content with merely following them and seeing what they were doing on Illium of all places.

ooooooo

Jerome had to admit, alien or no, Tali was damn good with repairs. Mjolner armor was one of the most advanced powered armors in use by the UNSC. Parts of it were more advanced than what the elites used. She had figured out most of its internal workings within two hours. He doubted she could build a suit, but she had figured out enough to repair it.

The alien handed him his damaged gauntlet, now repaired, for inspection. He looked it over, not even finding the smallest imperfection. "Good work." He began to reattach the gauntlet, oblivious to the alien's change in body language.

"Good work! I just spent two hours figuring out how your armor works, and all you have to say is good work?"

Jerome was surprised at the alien's outburst; he had said good work hadn't he?

Serina cut in before he could reply, "I think that's more than most Spartans would say. They don't have the best table manners if you know what I mean."

Jerome, glad for the interruption turned back to work, now trying to fix his damaged assault rifle. A simpler task he could perform on his own. The conversation continued without him.

"Yeah, I can see that. Hell I'd give anything to be able to take this suit off and feel something with my own hands, and he is in a hurry to put it back on." The tone of the alien's voice told the spartan she was now talking to the AI and not him, so he felt no need to reply.

Serina answered quickly enough, "I think I've seen a psych report about that, due to their training, Spartans only feel comfortable inside their armor. It's their safe zone."

"It probably doesn't help that you're talking about him like he isn't there." A third voice joined the conversation.

Jerome turned his head to take in the newcomer; he already recognized her voice, Liara, another alien. The one who seemed to be actively sabotaging the mission on Noveria.

He scowled, for a spartan it was a subtle motion. The aliens likely didn't pick up on it. Or at least he thought so.

Liara turned to him, "What is your problem with me anyway?"

"You endangered the mission for your emotions. Members of the team could have been killed." He stated simply and turned back to his work.

"And you killed my mother!" The alien shouted back.

"She was the enemy. I was made to destroy the enemy." Jerome didn't even turn around.

"Uh, I should go…" The other alien, Tali, excused herself quickly.

Completely ignoring Tali, Liara continued on, "What if someone had killed your mother in front of you? Are you saying you wouldn't feel a thing?"

Jerome was uncomfortably reminded of Dr. Halsey, the closest thing to a mother the Spartans ever had. Even if she was more of a scientist seeing how her experiments were advancing. He still remembered the jealousy he had felt whenever she showed special attention to John…

Something must have showed on his face, Liara's expression softened, "Sorry, I was out of line, I'll be leaving now." The scientist turned towards the elevator, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

"You know, if you spent less time chit chatting, and more time working you could have repaired your armor by now."

Alone with his thoughts and an AI…

ooooooo

Shepard sat at his desk going through the mounds of paperwork running a ship like the Normandy required. He was interrupted by Joker over the intercom. For a brief moment he wondered why they didn't have a crewman to do that.

"Go ahead Joker."

"The council's calling again, and they keep pressing five to talk to a real person."

Shepard glared at the speaker, "I'll be up in a few minutes."

Setting aside the stacks of papers Shepard made his way back and around the stairs to the comm room. As soon as he got there he triggered the FTL comm device and the three councilors appeared, or at least their holograms did.

"Commander Shepard, we just got your report from Noveria, are we to believe that binary helix was experimenting with rachni?" The asari councilor seemed extremely worried.

Shepard smiled internally, he had left the rachni queen out of his report, the council would likely throw a fit if they got wind of an actual queen existing. "Yes, they found some sort of ancient rachni vessel, and hatched the eggs inside. Luckily we were able to destroy their overrun hot labs, and destroy the Geth that Benezia had guarding the place."

The salarian councilor spoke next, "Yes, did you have to kill her Shepard? She could have made a valuable prisoner."

Shepard decided to argue his case rather than simply ignore the salarian's concerns, "First of all we didn't have any restraints capable of holding such a powerful biotic, and second there was no way she would have come willingly. She behaved like a crazed cultist except for the few minutes she took to hand me the Mu relay location."

"The fact that Saren possessed the means to brainwash a powerful matriarch like Benezia, and all her followers at once is troubling. Have you found what method he used?" The asari sounded genuinely worried, rather than speaking in her usual bored tone.

"No real evidence yet, only that Benezia seemed to think it was Sovereign that helped him do it. Only those aboard Saren's flagship seemed to fall under his sway."

The turian, silent up till this point, finally spoke up, "Then I suppose we will have to deploy infiltration teams to investigate any of Saren's holdings. One of our specters is already searching on Illium. If you hear information from her we would ask that you act on it."

The asari quickly held up her hand, "We aren't ordering you, you are free to pursue Saren however you wish, we are merely passing on information. Until next time commander."

The connection closed. Shepard felt much better about that council meeting than previous ones. Maybe he should have falsified his other reports?

Shepard shook his head at the thought and walked out of the briefing room to find Liara and Jerome.

He decided to visit the vehicle bay to talk to Jerome first. As he arrived he actually found Jerome and Liara standing together talking to each other. A few heated words were exchanged, and then suddenly Liara seemed to apologize and walked back to the elevator. Shepard smiled, hopefully that was the beginnings of them patching things up on their own without his interference. That would save him a lot of headaches later on.

Instead of talking to Jerome like he had planned, he walked down to the engine room. After all, it would look kind of strange for the CO to come down to the engineering deck, then just suddenly turn around and leave. A talk with Adams and Tali was always interesting.

ooooooo

_AN: It's a bit shorter than I had originally planned, oh well... hopefully I'll have the next one up later tonight, or maybe tomorrow. I need to go work on the seventh chapter for The Reclaimers, I want to add a few things I hadn't planned on originally... Probably have to shift the plot by a whole chapter...  
_


End file.
